President Donald Trump is directing the federal government to take over the operations of D.C.’s police department for up to 30 days, under the D.C. Home Rule Act, and sending in hundreds of National Guard Troops. If that means more arrests, is the D.C. court system equipped to handle it?
Judicial officials say the answer is no.
The D.C. Superior Court system has 62 seats, but there are 13 judicial vacancies, and two judges are on extended leave. Another two Superior Court judges have announced their plans to retire early in 2026.
The vacancy rate is 25%, and with the pending retirements that percentage will increase if no additional judges are nominated and confirmed.
There are also two openings on D.C.’s Court of Appeals, which has nine seats. One position has been vacant since 2013.
Unlike other federal judges who are appointed for lifetime terms, judges in D.C. serve a 15-year term.
Law enforcement expert and former D.C. Assistant Police Chief Joshua Ederheimer served 23 years with D.C.’s police department. He is now an assistant professor of practice and senior director of strategic partnerships at the University of Virginia.
“It’s not just judges. it’s also prosecutors. If you see a large deployment, if the city experiences a large expansion of deployment of law enforcement on the streets, and more arrests are made, that will have an impact on crime. But all of this is going to be funneled into the court system, and that’s where vacancies affect the process of the justice system,” he said.
Ederheimer said it’s in an overcrowded court system where things get bogged down.
“When you look at the number of vacancies, it’s about 20% of judges,” which creates a bottleneck in the justice process, he said. “What does that lead to? That looks like frustration in law enforcement, because they are doing their jobs and they’re bringing people to courts. It leads to questions about, are there impacts on plea arrangements? Are they going to offer more pleas and release people because the process is not working?”
Because D.C. is not a state, the court system is under federal control and, as with U.S. District, Appeals and Supreme Court judges, all judges in D.C. have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
“They’re federal judges, so that definitely delays the process,” Ederheimer said. “Part of it is just focus and the ability to focus on the District of Columbia, to make nominations, to get it through the confirmation process. I think that might change with all of the focus from the White House on the District of Columbia. I would anticipate a higher number of nominations for judgeships.”
The White House said it does plan to nominate more judges and push them through the Senate process. During Monday’s news conference announcing a federal takeover of the police department, the president said more judges will be named.
“We’re going to be appointing some judges. You know, we have some open spots,” Trump said.
A spokesman with the D.C. court system, Doug Buchanan, told WTOP the current vacancy situation is “not sustainable.”
The shortage of judicial officials is not limited to the court system. WTOP’s news partners at WJLA have reported that recently confirmed U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said her office is down 90 prosecutors.
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