Chuck Grassley: “In order to reverse this trend, the report resoundly concluded that Congress needed to reduce the jurisdiction of the…”

“In order to reverse this trend, the report resoundly concluded that Congress needed to reduce the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In the last Congress, the Republican leadership wisely pushed for measures designed to reduce the federal workload. Both the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act ``streamlined'' procedures so as to decrease the number of potential federal court filings. These measures were praised by the Chief Justice as ``promising examples of how Congress can reduce the disparity between resources and workload in the federal judiciary without endangering its distinctive character.'' Similarly, a bill I sponsored, The Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1996, included a provision that raised the threshold for diversity jurisdiction cases. It's estimated this provision alone reduced the federal workload by as many as 10,000 filings per year. In addition to what had been a continually expanding jurisdiction, the judiciary's increasing case filings was also a result, in large measure, from the policies and practices of the current Administration. Over the last year, the Executive Branch alone increased its number of civil filings by 23%. This increase, in addition to the increase resulting from expanded federal jurisdiction, accounted for the total overall increase in the number of civil filings in 1997. The policies and practices of the President have also crippled the criminal justice system.”