Mr. President, I rise to introduce, together with my colleague and friend Senator Kyl, the Emergency Judicial Relief Act of 2011. This bill would create a total of ten District judgeships in five courts across the country that are facing true emergency situations. I want to thank our cosponsors, Senators Cornyn, Klobuchar, Boxer, McCain, Hutchison, and Franken, for working with Senator Kyl and me on this bill. As a member of the Senate, I take very seriously our duty to ensure that the Nation's Federal courts have the resources they need to administer justice for the American people. Our Federal courts bear responsibility for adjudicating criminal cases, deciding civil rights and employment cases, and resolving commercial disputes between companies. When our courts become overburdened, we leave crime victims and criminal defendants in limbo and civil litigants without resolution to their problems. In the Eastern District of California, the need for additional judges is acute. This District, which extends over 87,000 miles and encompasses California's Central Valley, faces far and away the worst caseload crisis in the Nation. The District is home to more than eight million Californians, but it has only 6 active District Judges. For three decades, the District's population has been steadily growing, but the size of the Court has been unchanged.…
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We hope your report will provide guidance to the Department of Energy regarding better integration of the program funded in this appropriation.





