Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

Page 3

 

U.S. Senate Committee Cancels Hearing on New Judgeships

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

A Judiciary Committee hearing on the need for new federal judgeships was cancelled due to Republican objection on the Senate floor, a spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said yesterday.

The spokesperson said he did not know when or if the hearing, scheduled to take place yesterday afternoon, would be rescheduled.

The issue is already the subject of a bill, approved by the committee in May, that would create six new judgeships for the Ninth Circuit, including two temporary judgeships, and 12 new judgeships for California’s federal district courts, including five positions, one temporary, in the Central District.

Those would be among a total of 66 new federal judgeships across the United States. The proposed Federal Judgeships Act of 2008 was introduced by senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and co-sponsored by Feinstein.

 

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