Why legal experts and federal judges call for a judiciary expansion in Arizona

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Feb. 24 to hear
arguments from federal judges across the country about the
need to expand the bench including Diane Humetewa, a federal judge
in Arizona and the former U.S. Attorney for the District of
Arizona.  She testified about the longstanding, unmet
need for more federal judges in her state.  Arizona is one of
the nation’s fastest-growing states, but the number of judges has
been stagnant for most of the past three decades. This has caused a
legal backlog. It's been more than 30 years since Congress passed a
broad expansion of the judiciary. In that time, the nation’s
population has grown, technology has raised an array of previously
unimaginable legal concerns and globalization has upended the
economy. Democrats and Republicans agreed at the February hearing
that the nation is overdue for more judges.  In this
week's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics
podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J.
Hansen break down why and how this legal bottleneck affects
Arizonans. Joining the show are Carl Tobias, a law professor at the
University of Richmond, and Rep. Greg Staton, D-Ariz., a judiciary
committee member.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
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