Federal Drug Cases More Than Triple in Last 10 Years : Law: Rehnquist says more judges are needed to handle the increased workload. He urges immediate action by Congress.

The number of drug cases filed in the federal courts has more than tripled in the past decade, putting an extraordinary burden on already overworked judges, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said in an end-of-the year report on the federal judiciary being released today.

“From a federal law enforcement perspective, the war on drugs will fail if the judiciary is not given the judgeships necessary to do the job,” Rehnquist wrote. “Some courts, especially in border states, are approaching the outer limits of caseload and fatigue from handling drug-related criminal cases.”

Congress and the White House have increased spending to hire more drug agents, customs inspectors and prosecutors, and as a result, more criminal drug cases are being brought into the courts. But there are no additional judges to hear the cases, Rehnquist says.

One result of this, he said, is that complex civil cases involving business disputes, the environment, civil rights, bankruptcy and other areas are pushed aside and delayed.

In the past year, drug cases accounted for more than one-fourth of all criminal cases filed in the district courts, and more than half of the criminal appeals in the appellate courts.

Currently, 575 district judgeships and 168 appeals court judges are authorized by Congress, but 61 of those seats are vacant, either because the White House has failed to make an appointment or Congress has failed to approve the nominee. Rehnquist said those seats should be quickly filled.

In addition, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judicial policy-making body headed by Rehnquist, has asked Congress to create 59 extra district judgeships and 16 more appellate judgeships.

It is “essential that Congress take immediate action to create the(se) additional judgeships,” Rehnquist said.

The decade of the ‘80s has seen an explosion of federal criminal cases, not only for drugs, but for embezzlement, racketeering and fraud and other white-collar crimes, according to data provided by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

In 1989, 44,891 criminal cases were filed in the federal courts, up from 15,135 case filings in 1980, the report said.

Drug cases make up the fastest growing portion of that caseload, but they do not explain the entire increase. In 1989, 11,855 criminal drug cases were filed in federal court, up from 3,127 in 1980.

These drug-related cases “are spiraling upward in proportion to the federal docket, and there appears to be no prospect for reversal in the foreseeable future,” Rehnquist said.

The Justice Department in a separate report filed earlier on criminal convictions said convictions for “fraud, which includes embezzlement, forgery and counterfeiting,” grew by 55% from 1980 to 1987 and is the second fastest growing type of criminal case.