Chief Judge Virginia A. Phillips, United States District Court for the Central District of California. (Photo: Courtesy Photo) Chief Judge Virginia A. Phillips, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

The chief judge of the Central District of California has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee and White House to act swiftly on judicial vacancies she says pose a "grave danger" to the justice system.

Chief U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips penned a letter to Sens. Lindsey Graham, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, asking that they move to fill the open seats in her district.

With nearly one-third of 28 authorized judgeships in the district unfilled, some for more than five years, Phillips called the situation "a crisis of unprecedented magnitude."

"In the five years since the last new judge joined our court, the number of vacancies has climbed to an alarming high, while the caseload has increased more than 20%," she wrote.

The last person to join the Central District bench was André Birotte Jr., who was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in July 2014.

Congress has approved 28 judgeships to serve the 19 million people in the Central District. In March, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making body of the federal courts, recommended creating 10 more district judge positions for a total of 38 in the Central District.

In the meantime, current district judges are buried under an average caseload of 986 civil cases each, which is almost twice the national average, Phillips wrote.

"As alarming as this is, the situation may well worsen," she said. "Many of the active district judges on the court who are eligible to retire continue to serve, despite the ever growing workload. If all of them chose to retire, only eleven active judges would remain, putting at grave risk our court's ability to serve the millions of people in the Central District."

The chief judge noted that she appreciated the six judicial candidates President Donald Trump has nominated, with plans to recommend two more in the near future. However, she also mentioned that she didn't see any Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled on the matter.

"Neither I nor anyone on our court intends to endorse a specific nominee or to encroach on the Senate's constitutional role of advice and consent," Phillips wrote. "Rather, I write to draw your attention to the grave danger these vacancies pose to our Court's ability to serve justice in a timely and judicious manner."

In an emailed statement, a representative from Feinstein's office said, "Senator Feinstein understands the critical role of judges in the Central District and shares Judge Phillip's concerns about the current vacancies. She and Senator Harris are working to ensure that qualified, mainstream jurists are confirmed to fill those vacancies."

A spokesperson for Harris' office said that the Congresswoman believes a functioning judiciary is critical. "That's why she and Senator Feinstein are committed to working together to ensure that qualified candidates are confirmed," the representative said.

Representatives from Graham's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The slate of pending nominees for the Central District positions includes a mix of lawyers in private practice and current state court judges. Trump's earliest picks for the Central District bench include Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Horvitz & Levy partner Jeremy Rosen, and Mark Scarsi, the managing partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy's Los Angeles office. Those three were initially nominated In October 2018, before being retapped by the White House early this year after the Senate failed to take action before the nominations expired. The president in August nominated two more current Superior Court judges to the Central District bench—Fernando Aenlle-Rocha in Los Angeles and Sandy Leal in Orange County—as well as Jenner & Block's former Los Angeles managing partner Rick Richmond.

The White House in September announced its intention to nominate Greenberg Gross partner John Holcomb, a bankruptcy and intellectual property specialist, and current U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Kim, although the Senate has yet to receive those nominations.

Read Phillips' letter:

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