3—Staffing—judges will quit.
Bannon 14 (*Alicia Bannon: Counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program; former Liman Fellow and Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program; former John J. Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Law at Gibbons P.C., 7-21-2014, “The Impact of Judicial Vacancies on Federal Trial Courts,” Brennan Center, https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Impact%20of%20Judicial%20Vacancies%20072114.pdf)
These heavy workloads can take a toll on judges; in four districts, interviewees explicitly raised the concern of burn-out due to the burdens of compensating for long-term vacancies (E.D. Cal., S.D. Fla., D. Nev., E.D. Tex.).59 Chief Judge Davis in the Eastern District of Texas, for example, described the “long-term tolling effect on the judges” from his district’s two vacancies, citing an impact on “morale.”60 He added, “I sense a weariness and a tiredness on behalf of our district judges, especially ones that have to travel long distances [because of vacancies].”61 Judge Davis speculated that this long-term toll was encouraging judges in his district to retire, noting that the number of senior judges in his district has declined as more judges chose to leave the bench altogether when they reached retirement age.62 Chief Judge Federico Moreno in the Southern District of Florida likewise highlighted the toll that vacancies in his district placed on judges, despite observing that he did not think the vacancies were impacting the administration of justice.63 “It’s like an emergency room in a hospital,” he observed. “The judges are used to it and people come in and out and get good treatment. But the question is, can you sustain it? Eventually you burn out.”64
In two districts, interviewees also highlighted the burdens on senior judges who had retired from active service while continuing to carry full or close-to-full caseloads,65 arguing that it “wears [them] down.”66 The Clerk of Court in the Western District of Wisconsin commended the district’s senior judge as “working as hard or harder than before she retired.”67
Several attorneys raised similar concerns, describing “wear and tear” on their districts’ judges,68 along with “overwork,”69 a “lower level of morale,”70 and a “very heavy burden”71 on judges. These observations suggest that high and sustained levels of judicial vacancies raise concerns not just for their impact on current cases but for the long-term health and vitality of our courts.