[20210326]IN11639_美国司法会议（第117届国会）推荐新的美国巡回法院和地区法院法官职位.pdf

CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Recommendation for New U.S. Circuit and District Court Judgeships by the Judicial Conference of the United States (117th Congress) March 26, 2021 Congress determines, through legislative action, both the size and structure of the federal judiciary. Consequently, the creation of any new permanent or temporary U.S. circuit and district court judgeships must be authorized by Congress. Congress can authorize either permanent or temporary judgeships. A “permanent judgeship,” as the term suggests, permanently increases the number of judgeships for a court, whereas a “temporary judgeship” increases the number of judgeships for a specified amount of time (although Congress can later convert such a judgeship to a permanent one). Figure 1 shows, for the period 1891 (when Congress established nine courts of appeals, one for each judicial circuit at the time) through 2020, changes in the number of U.S. circuit and district court judgeships authorized by Congress. As the countrys population increased, its geographic boundaries expanded, and federal case law became more complex, the number of judgeships authorized by C