Top Biden ally 'disappointed' by president's veto on bill to increase number of US judges

A top ally of President Biden is "disappointed" after he vetoed a bill that would have increased the number of federal judges currently serving.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who served as a campaign co-chair for both of Biden's recent presidential campaigns, stressed that he and his Republican colleague Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., kept bipartisanship top of mind when crafting the bill.

"I am disappointed by this outcome, for my own state and for the federal judges throughout the country struggling under the burden of ever-higher caseloads. I’ve worked on this bill for years, and thanks to tireless bipartisan effort with Senator Young, it made it to the president’s desk. It’s highly unfortunate that it will not become law," Coons said in a statement on Tuesday.

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He then put the blame on House Republicans for the bill's ultimate failure, however, for voting on it after the 2024 election.

"Senator Young and I took pains to make this a nonpartisan process, structuring the JUDGES Act so that Congress could pass the bill before any of us – Republican or Democrat – knew who would occupy the White House in 2025 and therefore nominate the new federal judges," Coons said.

"The Senate did its part by passing the bill unanimously in August; the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, however, waited for election results before moving the bill forward. As a result, the White House is now vetoing this bill."

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Republicans in turn have accused Biden of making threats to veto the bill – which he issued two days before the House voted on it – to avoid giving President-elect Trump new roles to fill.

"This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pointed out in a statement after the bill passed earlier this month.

 "At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the presidency. Now, however, the Biden-Harris administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics."

The bill would have added 66 federal district judicial roles, spreading their creation out over more than 10 years to prevent a boon on new appointments for any one administration. 

At the time of its Senate passage, Democrats' morale was high after Biden ducked out of the 2024 race and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.

It passed the Senate with unanimous consent, however, meaning no Republicans objected to the legislation's advancement.