2013-042 Requesting our US Senators to forward to President Obama a bi-partisan slate of qualified judicial nominees to fill the vacant federal judge position in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division with preferenc

Home Browse Search

Congressional Record, Volume 149 Issue 168 (Wednesday, November 1.9, 2003) Page 4 of 8 (,judges Brown and Davis). 501 civil and criminal cases docketed and tried in Plano (Judge Schell). In light of the above, the judges of this couxt'hereby REAFFIPM our prior resolution to establish Piano as a place of holding court in the Sherman Division, and RESOLVE, if pending legislation passes that authorizes Plano as a place of holding court, to have half the Sherman Division caseload docketed and tried in Sherman, and the other half of the caseload docketed and tried in Plano. If Judge Brown ceases holding court in Sherman, a new resident judge shall be designated to hold court in Sherman as soon as possible, and pe cti4,9 the new judge's residing in Sherman, 50 of civil and cr mlpal cases shall toe docketed and tried in Sherman, and tlie_ clerk's of-iice in Sherman shall remain staffed -Siiff161ently to support a resident judge. Signed this 13th day of June, 2003. For the Court: John Hannah, Jr., - Chief Judge. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. {time) 1800 Mr. BERKAN . Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. [[Page H113BB3] Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1720 and I ask my colleagues to support the bill as well. It is a narrow bill, but a necessary one. It is identical to the provisions of the Federal Courts improvement Act currently before the Committee on the Judiciary, and to legislation which has I think several tunes passed the Souse. The purpose of the bill is to allow fox Federal court proceedings and an additional courthouse in Plano, Texas. As a result, the bill will remedy a critical problem hindering the efficient judicial administration of the U.S.•District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The existing courthouse is in Sherman, Texas and is overburdened by its increasing caseload. Filings over the past 5 years have grown by 100 percent. This situation mandates a solution. S. 1720 designates Plano as 'an additional place of holding court to help address this expanded workload. The one substantive Concern about the .bill, how cases will be distributed between the two courthouses, has been resolved. As I understand it, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary has agreed to engage in a colloquy with the distinguished gentleman from Texas in which it will become clear that S. 1720 is intended to relieve the ov,exflow of filings in the Sherman courthouse, but not do away with the Sherman courthouse. I think the chairman has already made that clear, that that is his intention. Furthermore, there is agreement from the Senate sponsor, the junior Senator from Texas, that the civil and criminal case filings for the Sherman division will be split 50--50 between the Plano and Sherman courthouses. The A.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has adopted a resolution memorializing this agreement, and the Judicial Conference of the United States has sent a letter to the same effect. Finally, the Committee on the Judiciary Report on the Federal Courts Improvement Act, which currently contains identical provisions, will reflect this understanding. Through these measures, we can zest assured http : / /www.gpo.gov /fdsys /pkg/CREC- 2003- 11- 19/htm]/CREC- 2003 -11 -19 ptl- PgHl1586,.. 9/20/2013