Congress and president must get us more judges

The facts aren't in dispute. Federal judges for the Eastern District of California, which includes the valley, are the most overworked in the country. Each judge averages 1,004 filings per year. Compare that with the next highest — 821 filings in Minnesota, and the average, 471 for judges in all federal district courts.

If you have no sympathy for overworked judges, think about victims, litigants, defendants and ordinary citizens who have urgent matters pending in federal court. It takes 3½ years on average to resolve civil disputes in the Eastern District. Many cases take much longer.

California's Eastern District stretches from the Oregon border in the north to the Los Angeles County line in the south. It has more than 7 million inhabitants but just 11 judges authorized. One judgeship is vacant and five are senior judges — 65 or older, on the bench more than 10 years, and entitled to take a lighter caseload. All but one of the senior judges have taken on maximum caseloads.

It appears that Congress has finally recognized the crisis. A bill is pending to create 63 new judgeships across the nation, including four permanent ones in the Eastern District and a temporary one that would exist up to 14 years.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is strongly pushing the legislation, but has been unable to get any Republicans to co-sponsor it. But it's not just partisan politics at work here. President Barack Obama has nominated fewer judges than his predecessors. Despite the crushing caseload in the Eastern District of California, Obama has not yet nominated anyone to fill the vacancy here. That's unacceptable.

The judicial crisis in the Eastern District is serious. The president and Congress must move expeditiously to give the district the jurists it needs.