NCJ Number
84188
Date Published
1982
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Judicial self-restraint, regulatory and statutory reform, changes in Federal habeas corpus, the elimination of diversity, and the creation of Article I tribunals could improve the effectiveness of the Federal judicial system in the face of the debilitating high volume of cases.
Abstract
At the Federal district court level, judges today must process 50 percent more new filings annually than in 1960, and judges at the appeals level must hear almost four times as many cases. Further, litigation is more complex and time-consuming than ever before. The result has been a decrease in the attention which each case receives from the court. The incidence of decisions without written opinions increases; the availability of oral argument declines; and judges must rely increasingly on the work of an expanding cadre of law clerks, magistrates, and other court personnel. Although the creation of more Federal judgeships is part of the answer to the growth of litigation, the basic cause of this growth -- the progressive accumulation of new litigable rights and entitlements created by Congress and the courts -- must be addressed. One proposal before Congress would eliminate practically all of the mandatory appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and the Justice Department is proposing that cases 'fully and fairly' litigated in the State courts could not be litigated again in Federal court through habeas corpus petitions. A still more important initiative pending before Congress is the elimination of diversity jurisdiction, which would substantially relieve the current congestion of the Federal dockets.