Doug Bereuter: “Unfortunately, Nebraska was not included on the list. This Member greatly appreciates the attempts by the distinguished…”

“Unfortunately, Nebraska was not included on the list. This Member greatly appreciates the attempts by the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) to make this critically important improvement for the people of Nebraska. Despite the gentleman's best efforts, the conferees from the other body would not agree to include Nebraska on this list. As such, this Member is very concerned and disappointed that the Nebraska judgeship was not included in the final conference report. The Nebraska temporary judgeship was created in 1990, and will expire with the first vacancy after November 2003. The caseload for the Federal District Court in Nebraska has steadily increased since that time, rising well above the Judicial Conference weighted standard of 430. In fact, in 2001, there were 1500 new filings and 1242 pending cases, with a weighted filing of 482. Without this judgeship, the weighted filings are expected to exceed 600 per judge. In addition, Nebraska currently has two District Court judges who have taken senior status and are expected to retire in the near future, further increasing the caseload on Nebraska judges.”