This legal maxim, in many forms, has been recognized as far back as the Romans and the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures. It has intuitive force and most of us have seen examples of injustice by mere delay. The occupant of the Oval Office seems particularly adept at it.
The federal court system often delays justice. What can be done? One important step would be to relieve the overload on current federal judges. I therefore propose the Swift Justice Act, which would have three key provisions.
1. Survey current federal judges to find out how many more judges are needed on the bench. Suggestions for districts that might benefit from being divided could also be accepted. This survey should be completed in three months and will yield the number of new federal judges that are needed to enable swift justice.
2. A nominating commission, similar in principle to the one used in the UK to nominate the law lords, would generate a list of three candidates for each new position. This nominating commission would include sitting judges who have excluded themselves from consideration for the position, law school deans or professors, representatives of the bar associations, and a few chosen by the Democratic and Republican parties. The partisan members should be no more than 20% of the commission. Outside groups would be free to make suggestions to the nominating commission for consideration.
3. The president would select a candidate to nominate from the list of three, and that person would be considered by the senate in the usual way. Because the nomination process includes a strong and non-partisan filter, it is likely that senate approvals would no longer require extended and contentious struggles.
Quite soon, the federal bench would have enough judges to make justice swifter — and more impartial.