Across the country, federal courts are buckling under an ever-increasing caseload in the absence of long-awaited congressional action that would add judges to match a significant growth in litigation over the last several decades.
It’s been 34 years since lawmakers last passed a comprehensive bill increasing the number of judges on lower courts. In that period, the American population has grown by 80 million. The number of filings in US district courts increased by more than 30%. In the past year, there were more than 724,000 pending cases being handled by a federal trial bench made up of 677 judgeships (including roughly 40-50 vacancies) – a 72% increase in pending cases over the last decade, during which, no new district seats have been created.
That’s a problem but I don’t think it’s the reason the House is full of clowns. The allocation of Senate seats gives it a right-wing bias as well, but people tend to elect adults, even if they’re evil adults. I think it’s mostly because crazies have a harder time winning a statewide election than they do a single district.