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Democrat Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a close Biden ally and campaign co-chair, expressed disappointment over the president’s veto of a bipartisan bill to increase federal judges, which Coons crafted with Sen. Todd Young.
“I am disappointed by this outcome, for my own state and for the federal judges throughout the country struggling under the burden of ever-higher caseloads. I’ve worked on this bill for years, and thanks to tireless bipartisan effort with Senator Young, it made it to the president’s desk. It’s highly unfortunate that it will not become law,” Coons said in a statement Tuesday, according to Fox News Digital.
He then blamed House Republicans for the bill’s ultimate failure, however, for voting on it after the 2024 election: “Senator Young and I took pains to make this a nonpartisan process, structuring the JUDGES Act so that Congress could pass the bill before any of us – Republican or Democrat – knew who would occupy the White House in 2025 and therefore nominate the new federal judges.”
“The Senate did its part by passing the bill unanimously in August; the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, however, waited for election results before moving the bill forward. As a result, the White House is now vetoing this bill,” added Coons.
Republicans claim Biden threatened to veto the bill to prevent President-elect Trump from filling new judicial roles, a point Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted after its passage.
“This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system,” said Johnson. “At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the presidency. Now, however, the Biden-Harris administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics.”
The bill proposed adding 66 federal district judgeships over 10 years to avoid benefiting any single administration. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, with no Republican objections.
President Biden vetoed the bipartisan bill to add more federal judges–badly needed in our over-taxed court system. https://t.co/4hVQd5wuJg It is a cynical and partisan move that destroys any pretense of bipartisanship. Even uber-loyal Chris Coons denounced the veto…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 24, 2024
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