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ley, who is poised to take back the ets so slowly that people may start
gavel from Graham and return as to lose faith in the judicial sys-
chairman of the committee at the tem and seek alternative ways to
end of this current Senate. He was Sen. Lindsey Graham said resolve conflicts, which “ends in
skeptical of the formulas used by an election year, with no chaos and ends with people not
the Judicial Conference to calcu- knowledge of which party resolving disputes peacefully.”
late the need for new judgeships, will next get to choose
“And the caseloads have gone
and asked whether seats in other judicial nominees, might up to such a great extent that it’s
courts could be eliminated to off- be the best time to create leading to, I would say, people to
set new ones. new judgeships “because start turning away from the fed-
Both of the hearing’s witness- nobody knows the outcome eral courts,” Miller added. “And I
es—U.S. District Judge Brian just think that’s an untenable situ-
Miller of the Eastern District of and we all know we need ation.”
Arkansas, who chairs the Judicial more judges.”
Adams also noted that, with
Conference Committee on Judi- dockets packed with cases, parties
cial Resources’ Subcommittee on may be forced to reach settle-
Judicial Statistics, and National ments rather than obtain justice in
President of the Federal Bar Association Christian court. “The detrimental impacts and increased costs
Adams—strongly opposed the idea of cutting exist- incurred by litigation due to delay are often incalcu-
ing judgeships. Miller noted that currently, federal lable and insurmountable,” he said.
judges often have to travel to other districts to help ¦

manage their dockets, and he has tried cases in Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a re-
North Dakota as part of that practice. porter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal
Miller told the committee that, without new side of politics. Contact her at jathomsen@alm.
judgeships, some courts could move through dock- com and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.

Trump-Tapped Judge Throws
Out Asylum Restriction

By Jacqueline Thomsen
Afederal judge in Washington, D.C., late Tues- Circuit is set to rule on whether to uphold prelimi-
day vacated a Trump administration rule nary injunction against the rule. The U.S. Supreme
that blocked migrants from petitioning for Court had previously said the administration can en-
asylum in the U.S. if they were not first denied the force the measure while that court fight played out.
protections by other countries they traveled through In Tuesday’s ruling, Kelly found Trump officials
on their way to the southern border. violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed to the following the law’s “notice-and-comment” require-
bench by President Donald Trump, issued the rul- ment before enacting the rule. He did not address
ing nearly a year after he first rejected a temporary other legal claims made against the policy.
restraining order against the restriction. A similar Kelly rejected arguments from Trump Justice
challenge has played out in federal court in Califor- Department attorneys that officials could skip the
nia, where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
¦ Continued on PAGE 14

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