Idaho U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have introduced legislation to establish an additional federal district judgeship in Idaho for the first time in more than sixty years.
Idaho’s two House members, Representatives Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher, introduced similar legislation in their chamber earlier this month. Idaho’s congressional delegation has been pushing to add another federal jurist due to Idaho’s courts being plagued by delays due to an overburdened caseload for the two existing judges.
From 2015 to 2017, Idaho had just one full-time district court judge and the Judicial Conference of the United States has consistently found Idaho to have a judicial emergency since 2003. To fill the gap, dozens of judges from other states have presided over Idaho cases in recent years.
Idaho hasn’t added a district judge since 1954 when the population reached 600,000 – Idaho’s population is now 1.7 million.
Idaho, North Dakota, and Vermont are the only states with just two authorized judge seats for the entire state. (Sen. Mike Crapo’s Office)
