WASHINGTON -- A panel of federal judges is proposing new limits on access to federal courts for Social Security beneficiaries, victims of job discrimination and consumers as part of a long-range plan to cope with huge increases in the caseload.
The panel of nine judges, who have a combined total of more than 160 years on the bench, was created in 1990 by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making arm of the federal judiciary.
If recent trends continue, the judges said, the federal courts will be inundated with civil and criminal cases. The crime bill passed this fall, for example, has extended federal jurisdiction to a new range of crimes.
By the year 2020, the judges estimate, more than 1 million new cases will be filed each year in federal district courts, up from the 281,740 in the year that ended June 30.
"Numbers alone do not adequately capture this frightening picture," it says. To handle the anticipated caseload, even assuming some increase in judicial productivity, would require more than 4,000 judges, up from the current total of 846, the
report says. Without hiring new judges, delays would grow intolerably.
With so many judges, the report says, it will be difficult to &L; maintain the coherence and consistency of federal court decisions.
"Federal law would be Babel, with thousands of decisions issuing weekly and no one judge capable of comprehending the entire corpus of federal law, or even the law of his or her own circuit," it says. To prevent such confusion, the judges recommended that the courts' jurisdiction over certain types of cases be limited.
After hearings, a final version of the report will be submitted in March 1995 to the full Judicial Conference, which is expected to accept most of the recommendations.
Some of the proposed changes can be made by the judges, but most would require action by Congress, which may be receptive to some of the judges' suggestions. In the current climate, Congress is unlikely to provide the money needed for judicial hiring and budgets to keep pace with rising caseloads.
Advocates for the elderly and others viewed the report with concern.
Burton D. Fretz, executive director of the National Senior Citizens Law Center, which represents elderly people in cases involving Social Security, Medicaid and welfare programs, said: "The proposals would significantly shrink the availability of federal courts to low-income clients."
A theme of the report is that people should rely more on state courts and on administrative appeals at federal and state agencies. Mr. Fretz said the proposals would raise new obstacles to people suing state officials for denial of welfare, Medicaid and other benefits guaranteed by federal laws.