UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA CHAMBERS OF FEDERICO A. MORENO C HI E F U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE UNITED STATES COURTHOUSES THIRTEENTH FLOOR 40 0 NORTH MIAMI AVENUE MIAMI, FLORIDA 33128 July 21 , 2011 Senator Mitch McConnell 361-A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Re : Nominations o f Kathleen Williams and Robert Scola to the U .S . District Court for the Southern District o f Florida Dear Senator McConnell , As Chief Judge o f the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, I urge you to expedite the Senate's confirmation o f Kathleen Williams and Robert Scola to the positions o f district judg es in our di strict. I under stand that the Judiciary Commit tee has sent both nominations by unanimous voice vote and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate. Ms . Williams, our district's Federal Public Defender, has been awaiting confirmation for the longest period of any present nominee to the district court in the entire country. State Judge Robert Scol a ' s nomination is o f a more recent vintage but the litigants are eagerly awaiting his confirmatio n . The judgeship Ms . Williams has been nominated to fill has been vacant for two years! At the present time , our district has three vacancies . Unfilled positions in our Court present an undue hardship on the citizens residing in the Southern District of Florida, particularly those with cases pending in the affected division o f the Court. Our district is huge and heavily populated. It includes the most populous counties in Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward (where Fort Lauderdale is located) and Palm Beach Count ies. The district also includes Monroe, St. Lucie, Highlands , Okeechobee, Martin, and Indian River Counties. We have been laboring under a judicial shortage for quite some time. Th e Judicial Conference of the United States has for the past several years annually recommended to Congress three additional permanent judgeships and to convert one temporary judgeship into a permanent one. This shortage is exacerbated by the fact that we are one of the busiest district courts in the nation . Our district had 10,556 new filings in both criminal and civil cases in 20 10 , an increase of 6. 7% over the yea r 2000. The latest national statistics (FY 2010) are attached and show that our distric t is first in "weighted filings" in the Eleventh Circuit.
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Wilkie O. Ferguson, Jr. James Lawrence KingFederaJ Courthouse- Miami . Justice Building- Miami
,u. S. Federal Building and PauJ"G . Rogers FederalBuildingCourthOuse-FortLauderdale' andCou1house-West Pa,lm Beach .
'. The Southern District of Florida (SDFL) has long . support all aspects of ·court automation; arch 'itects ,been one of the busiest Federal trial courts in this ' engineers, and mechanics, who plab, maintain, 'and
country. Stretching over 300 miles, from Fort Pierce in support the Court's facilities; and other h i g h l y ~ s k i l l e d the north to the nation's southernmost point in Key '. professionals. All Court staff, Wherever assigned, warkWest, the Court's bench includes 18 authorized District closely ' with . ather· gavermmental agencies andJudge positions; 6 . Senior District '. Judges; '. 16 participants in the criminal justice system to pravideMagistrate Judge positions; and 3 .recalled Magistrate necessary support services forthe prompt and efficient 'Judges in 2010. The Court convenes court in five . handling of cOllrt matters.divisions-Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach,Fort Pierce and Key West-and maintains f u l l ~ t i m e staff ' With the help of this diversely skiHedwark force;in each. the Court processed 1560 new crimina 'i case, f!lings
. involving than 2484 criminal defendants, and 8996 civil.' The Southern District's Judges are supported by " case filings diJi"ing 2010: ' The Southern Districrs
over.160 full-lime Clerk's Officeempioyees C!nd over . caseioad reflects nat only the Increasing populatianaf· 100 chambers staf f .The.duties ofthis dedicated work South Fl.orida, but also the diversity and uniqueness .of
force involve a broad spectrl-lm of service ranging from thecammunities- it serves. In additian to' .one of theoperational activities, i'ncluding case processing and m.ostcomplex criminal caseloads in t!:le country, thecourtroam suppart; to admih.stra'tive services such as S O ( J i h e r n D i s ~ r ",Is.o ihas-aunique mix of civ,1 andbudget and fin,mciaJ activities. BecaUSe the efficient internatianal iitigatian stemming from itsgeagraphicfunctioning of a court this size requires a wide variety location as a gateway ta the 'Caribbean a.nd S.outh
of professional . support, a .' full cross-sectian .of . Amefica. .. The ' C.ourt 's docket 'has also included
professional disciplines is represented. Our staff internationally notorious crjminal .and civil cases withincludes lawyers, who directly assist chambers; . social and palitical overtones:linguists, who provide interpreter services in a widevariety of languages; computer technicians, who