# 119-hr-1702: JUDGES Act of 2025

119-hr-1702, JUDGES Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Issa, Darrell [R-CA-48] (R-CA); status in_committee (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1702
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1702
- Congress: 119
- Title: JUDGES Act of 2025
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-02-27
- Sponsor: Rep. Issa, Darrell [R-CA-48] (R-CA)
- Cosponsors: 17
- Policy area: Law
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Massive expansion of permanent district judgeships** would add dozens of judges across many districts from 2025 through 2035 to ease understaffing and caseload pressure. It also would reorganize some California and Texas localities and force more public reporting and GAO reviews of court workload and detention planning. - Would increase judgeship counts immediately in 2025 with 11 new judges and then add more in 2027, 2029, 2031, 2033, and 2035, updating the statutory district table for many districts including California, Texas, Florida, New York, and others. This changes who hears cases where by raising authorized judges in specific districts. - Would create one temporary judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma whose vacancy could go unfilled five years after appointment. This provides a short-term staffing boost while also limiting long-term vacancies from that seat. - Would require the Government Accountability Office to report on workload measures and detention-space needs within two years and force the Administrative Office and Judicial Conference to publish the biennial Article III judgeship recommendations and supporting materials online for public access.

## Cosponsors (17)

- Rep. Lee, Laurel M. [R-FL-15] (R-FL), 2025-02-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Nehls, Troy E. [R-TX-22] (R-TX), 2025-02-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kiley, Kevin [I-CA-3] (I-CA), 2025-02-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Cole, Tom [R-OK-4] (R-OK), 2025-03-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Peters, Scott H. [D-CA-50] (D-CA), 2025-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vargas, Juan [D-CA-52] (D-CA), 2025-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Correa, J. Luis [D-CA-46] (D-CA), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1] (D-MO), 2025-03-31T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12] (R-FL), 2025-03-31T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Shreve, Jefferson [R-IN-6] (R-IN), 2025-04-07T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. De La Cruz, Monica [R-TX-15] (R-TX), 2025-04-07T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Simpson, Michael K. [R-ID-2] (R-ID), 2025-04-08T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Calvert, Ken [R-CA-41] (R-CA), 2025-04-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Flood, Mike [R-NE-1] (R-NE), 2025-06-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gray, Adam [D-CA-13] (D-CA), 2025-06-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Crank, Jeff [R-CO-5] (R-CO), 2026-01-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Rutherford, John H. [R-FL-5] (R-FL), 2026-04-27T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Adds federal trial judges in stages: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would add permanent district judges across named courts. The first group would start on the date of enactment in 2025. Later groups would start on January 21 of 2027, 2029, 2031, 2033, and 2035. The President would nominate the judges, and the Senate would confirm them. It wou…
- Temporary judge for Eastern Oklahoma: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would add one temporary district judge in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, starting on enactment. The President would appoint the judge with Senate approval. If a vacancy occurs five or more years after that judge’s confirmation, that vacancy would not be filled.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-7148: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026
- 119-hr-9250: Great American Outdoors Act 250
- 119-hr-1502: North Platte Canteen Congressional Gold Medal Act
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4382: America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-1702 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1702)

## Related
- [119-hr-7148: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7148)
- [119-hr-9250: Great American Outdoors Act 250](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9250)
- [119-hr-1502: North Platte Canteen Congressional Gold Medal Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1502)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1422)
- [119-hr-4382: America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4382)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1702 (as of 2026-09-21).