Lame-duck Biden threatens to veto bipartisan plan that would allow Trump to appoint more federal judges

President Biden will veto a bipartisan measure that would have staffed more federal judges across the country, White House officials said Tuesday, raising questions about the true “motivating force” behind the bill as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.

The Senate by unanimous consent in August passed the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act, which was co-sponsored by Democrats and Republicans and would have authorized the next three presidential administrations to appoint 66 federal district judges in understaffed states that have a large backlog of cases.

“While judicial staffing is important to the rule of law, S. 4199 is unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice,” the White House argued in a statement issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

“The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies. Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.” 

The House is considering the legislation this week, more than four months after it passed the Senate.

The White House noted that Trump won re-election before the bill was taken up in the GOP-controlled lower chamber, apparently claiming there was a political motivation to get the soon-to-be 47th president more judicial appointments.

“Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,” the statement read.

Biden, 82, promised to engage in a peaceful transition of power and has been in contact with Trump, 78, about setting up his team in the White House for a second time — even as the soon-to-be 47th president called on Republican senators to block Democratic judicial nominees in the lame-duck session of Congress.

“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump bemoaned on his Truth Social account in late November after winning office. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!”

The tension over the stalling of the JUDGES Act has been felt on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers quickly jumping to slam Biden’s intention to veto the bipartisan measure.

“President Biden just threatened to veto my JUDGES Act of 2024, which would resolve the judicial crisis that has Americans waiting years for their day in court,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), one of the cosponsors of the bill, lamented on X.

“I’m deeply disappointed in the Biden Administration’s threat to veto the JUDGES Act. This bill passed the Senate unanimously, reflecting broad bipartisan support for addressing an urgent issue facing our judiciary,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) added.

But Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) agreed with Democrats’ assessment that the House acted unfairly in waiting for the election to be over to act on the bill.

“My colleagues and I begged them to take it up,” Nadler voiced on Monday. “We explained the stakes. They knew that bipartisan support for creating desperately needed new judgeships would only exist if the bill were passed into law before Nov. 5, but they refused.”

Trump’s team did not respond to an inquiry from The Post.