JUDGES Act of 2024
Latest action. Veto message received in Senate. Ordered held at the desk.
Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act of 2024 or the JUDGES Act of 2024
This bill creates 63 new permanent U.S. district court judgeships over a 10-year period and 3 temporary U.S. district court judgeships in 2025. The President must appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, additional judges for specified judicial districts.
Specifically, the bill creates 63 additional permanent judgeships, which are added every two years from 2025 through 2035. The state and the total number of judgeships added over the 10-year period for the state are as follows:
Arizona (2),
California (21),
Colorado (2),
Delaware (2),
Florida (9),
Georgia (2),
Idaho (1),
Indiana (1),
Iowa (1),
Nebraska (1),
New Jersey (3),
New York (5), and
Texas (13).
Additionally, in 2025, the bill creates three temporary judgeships in Oklahoma.
The bill adds locations for where district courts must be held in certain states. Specifically, the bill requires the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to be additionally held in El Centro, California; the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) to be additionally held in College Station, Texas; and the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah (Central Division) to be additionally held in Moab and Monticello, Utah.
The Government Accountability Office must submit reports to Congress on judicial caseloads and detention space.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts must make publicly accessible, and submit to Congress, a specified biennial report on judgeship recommendations.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House" stage on December 12, 2024. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
1 step remains before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 3, 2025: Veto message received in Senate. Ordered held at the desk.
- A two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate to override the veto
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 1 step is still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Todd Young (R-IN) introduced it on April 19, 2024, and 17 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 9 Democrats, 8 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 19, 2024, 874 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 615 days ago, on January 3, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HousePassed
- PresidentVetoed on January 3, 2025