AFJ Applauds Biden for Announcing Planned Veto of JUDGES Act

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 10, 2024 – Today the White House issued a statement announcing President Biden’s intention to veto the JUDGES Act, which would create 66 new judgeships to address increasing capacity issues in our nation’s courts. Despite the need for more judges, Alliance for Justice applauds Biden’s actions here, which will prevent President Trump from having more vacancies to fill with extremists during his second term.

As the White House correctly noted, the bill creates new vacancies in states where Republican senators have already held open current vacancies, making clear Republicans’ newfound support for adding judgeships is a blatantly political attempt to create vacancies for Trump to fill with loyalists. Had lawmakers truly cared about this issue, senators would have allowed those seats to be filled, while representatives wouldn’t have waited until after the election to approve the bill when their preferred candidate had won.

Alliance for Justice Interim Co-President Keith Thirion issued the following statement:

“President Biden is doing the right thing by refusing to create more judgeships just for Trump to fill. The hundreds of judges Trump appointed in his first term have already caused harm to millions of people and the rule of law. Every chance to protect our courts over the next four years must be taken. It’s true our courts are overdue for expansion, but it is a disservice to the public servants committed to equal justice to so blatantly weaponize this process. Filling our courts with even more lifetime Trump appointees who issue harmful rulings would not be an improvement. Our civil rights, democracy, health and safety, and the rule of law are all on the line, and they are all better off with too few judges than with any more Trump judges.”