District court expansion bill needs fast OK
Here comes the judge ... maybe.
Arizona's two U.S. senators, Jon Kyl and John McCain, have joined a number of others in introducing an emergency judicial relief act in Congress to come to the rescue of U.S. district courts in our state.
The legislation would provide two additional district judges for Arizona and make one temporary judgeship permanent in an attempt to deal with the overwhelming caseload here due to increased prosecutions involving illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Although this has been a problem for some time now, it came to widespread public attention after the slaying of Chief District Judge John M. Roll when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was attacked in Tucson in January.
His replacement, District Judge Roslyn O. Silver, immediately declared a judicial emergency so a time limit for bringing accused criminals to trial could be temporarily suspended.
The District of Arizona has the third-highest criminal caseload in the nation, and cases have increased by 65 percent since 2008 in the wake of increased border enforcement by the federal government. District judges in the Tucson division are currently handling about 1,200 cases each.
The current situation is “just not tenable,” said Judge Silver in remarks welcoming news of the new legislation to provide relief.
We agree.
Even during this time of fiscal restraint, Congress needs to move quickly to provide the new judgeships and then to approve the appointments to fill them once they are authorized.
