Title: District of Arizona Judgeship Authorization Act of 2020
Policy area: Law

Summary:
District of Arizona Judgeship Authorization Act of 2020
This bill requires the appointment of four additional U.S. district court judges for the district of Arizona and converts one judgeship that is currently temporary in that district into a permanent judgeship.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3321 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3321

    To authorize 4 additional judgeships and to convert a temporary 
                 judgeship for the district of Arizona.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 13, 2020

Ms. McSally (for herself and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize 4 additional judgeships and to convert a temporary 
                 judgeship for the district of Arizona.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``District of Arizona Judgeship 
Authorization Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In its March 2019 report, the Judicial Conference of 
        the United States requested from Congress, for the district of 
        Arizona, the creation of 4 new district judgeships and the 
        conversion of 1 temporary judgeship to a permanent judgeship.
            (2) In fiscal year 2019, there were 14,205 pending cases 
        averaging 1,093 cases per judgeship in the district of Arizona. 
        The median timelines for civil and criminal filings to 
        disposition were roughly 9.6 and 4.8 months, respectively. The 
        filings for fiscal year 2019 were 15,301, or 1,177 per 
        judgeship.
            (3) The Judicial Conference of the United States defines a 
        judgeship vacancy to be a judicial emergency if weighted 
        filings are in excess of 600 per judgeship.
            (4) The district of Arizona currently has 800 weighted 
        filings per judgeship, above the threshold for a judicial 
        emergency and above the 2018 national average of 513 weighted 
        filings per judgeship.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGESHIPS FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA.

    (a) Additional District Judgeships.--The President shall appoint, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 4 additional district 
judges for the district of Arizona.
    (b) Conversion of Temporary Judgeship.--The existing judgeship for 
the district of Arizona authorized by section 312(c) of the 21st 
Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act (Public 
Law 107-273, 28 U.S.C. 133 note), as of the date of enactment of this 
Act, shall be authorized under section 133 of title 28, United States 
Code, and the incumbent in that office shall hold the office under 
section 133 of title 28, United States Code, as amended by this Act.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table in section 
133(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking the item 
relating to Arizona and inserting the following:


``Arizona..................................................        17''.
 

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