Your editorial, “Democrats try to pack the courts” (Opinion, Monday), ignores and rewrites history. The Federal Judgeship Act of 2009 (S. 1653) is based upon nonpartisan recommendations by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal courts’ policymaking body.
Last year, prominent Republican senators co-sponsored a very similar bill, and the Judiciary Committee’s approval included the votes of two-thirds of the committee’s Republicans, including Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, and Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona.
In 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed the last comprehensive judges bill, he thanked then-Senate Judiciary chairman Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, for giving him 85 new judgeships to fill.
In contrast, your editorial plays politics. By urging that “new seats don’t open up until after the next presidential election,” it ensures that justice delayed will be justice denied in overburdened courts.
GLENN SUGAMELI
Staff attorney
Judging the Environment
Washington
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