Opinion ID: 2427838
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Courthouse Facilities

Text: Visiting judges are not an adequate short-term fix, nor are they a long-term solution to this problem. See Tab D, AO Report at p. 10. The Evo A. DeConcini United States Courthouse in Tucson has only been able to accommodate one visiting judge at a time, and now can accommodate two with Judge Roll's courtroom available. The Special Proceedings Courtroom is unavailable because it is completely utilized for Operation Streamline proceedings. There are only two other courtrooms not assigned to a judge, one of which is needed each day for felony criminal duty (detention hearings in the morning and initial appearances in the afternoon). Once per week another district judge sized courtroom is needed for arraignments. The magistrate judges typically use their assigned courtrooms both mornings and afternoons each day for felony change of plea and other proceedings. Thus, the visiting judges can only be scheduled to courtrooms as they become available each day. Any visiting judge presiding in a civil trial will likely have to do so in courtrooms borrowed from the bankruptcy court at the Walsh Courthouse down the street. On September 29, 2010, Judge Roll submitted a statement to Congress concerning the space problems at the Evo A. DeConcini district courthouse. See Tab F: Testimony re: Evo A. DeConcini Courthouse in Tucson Division: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Courts and Policy of the House Judiciary Committee, 111th Cong. (2010) (statement of Chief Judge John Roll). In those comments, Judge Roll responded to a GAO Report stating: No one familiar with the actual situation in Tucson could reasonably conclude that the DeConcini Courthouse was overbuilt in 2000 or that the Courthouse has any extra available space. In fact, there is a constant search for tenants who will leave the Courthouse to free up additional space. Id. at p. 9. The GAO's position that the Tucson Division did not need more space had assumed courtroom sharing, which isn't practical in busy border state courts, and also didn't take into account the frequent use of visiting judges. As noted in the 2008 AO Report, the District of Arizona had inadequate facilities for court operations, and Tucson's criminal case filings increased well beyond the volume projected when the courthouse was designed. See Tab D: AO Report at pp. 11, 21-22 (noting serious space limitations.). Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continues to champion the District of Arizona's space crises. In a letter written February 7, 2011, Congresswoman Giffords' Chief of Staff wrote to the Chairmen of the Committee on Appropriations and the Subcommittee on Financial Service and General Government requesting that GSA work with the DeConcini courthouse tenants to lease auxiliary space. See Tab G: Letter from Pia Carusone, Congresswoman Giffords' Chief of Staff, (misdated February 7, 2010). Because the courthouse is out of space, and the United States Attorney's Office lease in the DeConcini Courthouse doesn't expire until 2013, the judiciary would have to spend an inordinate amount of money to relocate them pursuant to 41 C.F.R. § 102-85.210.