The Introduction Of A Bill That Will Address The Need For A Fourth Permanent Judgeship For The District Of Hawaii

Floor Speech

THE INTRODUCTION OF A BILL THAT WILL ADDRESS THE NEED FOR A FOURTH PERMANENT JUDGESHIP FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 04, 2007)

* Ms. HIRONO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce with Congressman ABERCROMBIE a companion measure to legislation that will soon be introduced by Senators INOUYE and AKAKA that would convert the fourth temporary judgeship for the District of Hawaii to permanent judgeship status.

* The fourth temporary judgeship for the District of Hawaii was created in 1990 by Public Law 101-650. Although, the judges appointed to temporary judgeships have lifetime appointments, legislation creating temporary judgeships usually specifies that the first vacancy in the district cannot be filled after a certain date. In the 1990 bill, this time frame was determined to be ten years after each temporary judgeship was filled. That meant that Hawaii could not fill a temporary vacancy occurring after October 2004.

* Currently, the District of Hawaii has four active judges. However, if any of these judges become inactive, by taking senior status or otherwise, the district will not be able to replace that judge because of the ten-year limitation, which has long passed. This would place a great burden on not only the three remaining active judges, but also on the litigants themselves, especially civil litigants. Due to the right to speedy trial, felony cases regularly bump civil trials off the calendar, leading to long delays to get to court. Civil cases include disputes involving personal injury, civil rights, the environment, business, and other non-criminal matters.

* The Judicial Conference of the United States has recommended that Hawaii's fourth temporary judgeship be converted to permanent status. The conversion is included in the 2007 Judicial Conference Judgeship Biennial Recommendation. In its 2003 recommendation, the Judicial Conference stated that the District of Hawaii weighted caseloads per judgeship will be over 600 should that district lose a judgeship. As the caseload for the district has since increased, it is imperative that Congress act on this matter as quickly as possible.

* I look forward to working with my colleagues on this and other initiatives that will address our need for additional federal judgeships across the country.

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