I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 483
To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide for the
automatic appointment of judges to the District of Columbia courts
without the advice and consent of the Senate, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2023
Ms. N
ORTONintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Committee
on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to pro-
vide for the automatic appointment of judges to the
District of Columbia courts without the advice and con-
sent of the Senate, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 4
Courts Judicial Vacancy Reduction Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 483 IH
SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES TO DIS-1
TRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS. 2
(a) A
PPOINTMENTS BYPRESIDENT.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 433(a) of the Dis-4
trict of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1–204.33(a), 5
D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking ‘‘the 6
President shall nominate’’ and all that follows and 7
inserting the following: ‘‘from the list of persons rec-8
ommended by the District of Columbia Judicial 9
Nomination Commission established under section 10
434, the President shall appoint all judges of the 11
District of Columbia courts.’’. 12
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 433 13
of such Act (sec. 1–204.33, D.C. Official Code) is 14
further amended— 15
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘
NOMINA-16
TION AND’’; 17
(B) in subsection (b) in the matter pre-18
ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘nominated 19
or’’; 20
(C) in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), by 21
striking ‘‘nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘appoint-22
ment’’; 23
(D) in paragraph (3) of subsection (b), by 24
striking ‘‘nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘appoint-25
ment’’; 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 483 IH
(E) in paragraph (4) of subsection (b), by 1
striking ‘‘the President, for such nomination 2
and appointment,’’ and inserting ‘‘the President 3
for such appointment’’; 4
(F) in paragraph (5) of subsection (b), by 5
striking ‘‘his nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘ap-6
pointment’’; 7
(G) in the fifth sentence of subsection (c), 8
by striking ‘‘then the President may nominate’’ 9
and all that follows and inserting ‘‘the Presi-10
dent may reappoint such candidate as judge.’’; 11
(H) in the sixth sentence of subsection (c), 12
by striking ‘‘not to so nominate such declaring 13
candidate, he shall nominate another can-14
didate’’ and inserting ‘‘not to so reappoint such 15
declaring candidate, the President shall appoint 16
another candidate’’; and 17
(I) in the seventh sentence of subsection 18
(c), by striking ‘‘then the President shall not 19
submit to the Senate for advice and consent the 20
renomination of the declaring candidate as 21
judge’’ and inserting ‘‘the President shall not 22
reappoint the declaring candidate as judge’’. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 483 IH
(3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of con-1
tents of such Act is amended by amending the item 2
relating to section 433 to read as follows: 3
‘‘Sec. 433. Appointment of judges.’’.
(b) APPOINTMENTS BY JUDICIALNOMINATIONCOM-4
MISSION.—Section 434(d) of such Act (sec. 1–204.34(d), 5
D.C. Official Code) is amended— 6
(1) in the first sentence of paragraph (1), by 7
striking ‘‘for possible nomination and appointment’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘for possible appointment’’; 9
(2) in the second sentence of paragraph (1), by 10
striking ‘‘more than one nominee’’ and inserting 11
‘‘more than one person’’; 12
(3) in the third sentence of paragraph (1), by 13
striking ‘‘of nominees’’; 14
(4) in the fourth sentence of paragraph (1)— 15
(A) by striking ‘‘the President fails to 16
nominate, for Senate confirmation,’’ and insert-17
ing ‘‘the President fails to appoint’’; and 18
(B) by striking ‘‘the Commission shall 19
nominate, and with the advice and consent of 20
the Senate, appoint’’ and inserting ‘‘the Com-21
mission shall appoint’’; and 22
(5) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘nomination’’ 23
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘appointment’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 483 IH
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZING CONGRESS TO PREVENT APPOINT-1
MENT THROUGH RESOLUTION OF DIS-2
APPROVAL. 3
(a) R
ESOLUTIONS OFDISAPPROVAL.—Part C of title 4
IV of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1– 5
204.31 et seq., D.C. Official Code) is amended by insert-6
ing after section 434 the following new section: 7
‘‘
AUTHORIZING CONGRESS TO PREVENT APPOINTMENT 8
THROUGH RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL 9
‘‘S
EC. 434A. (a) REQUIRINGTRANSMISSION OFNO-10
TICE OFAPPOINTMENT TOCONGRESS.—Notice of the ap-11
pointment of a judge of a District of Columbia court under 12
this part shall be transmitted to the Speaker of the House 13
of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the 14
Senate by— 15
‘‘(1) the President, in the case of an appoint-16
ment under section 433; or 17
‘‘(2) the District of Columbia Judicial Nomina-18
tion Commission, in the case of an appointment 19
under section 434(d)(1). 20
‘‘(b) T
IMING OFAPPOINTMENT.—The appointment 21
of a judge of the District of Columbia courts shall take 22
effect upon the expiration of the 30-calendar-day period 23
(excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and any day 24
on which neither House is in session because of an ad-25
journment sine die, a recess of more than three days, or 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 483 IH
an adjournment of more than three days) beginning on 1
the date on which notice of the appointment is transmitted 2
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 3
President pro tempore of the Senate under subsection (a), 4
unless during such 30-calendar-day period there has been 5
enacted into law a joint resolution disapproving of the ap-6
pointment. 7
‘‘(c) A
PPLICATION OFEXPEDITEDPROCEDURES FOR 8
C
ONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS OFDISAPPROVAL OF 9
C
OUNCILACTS TOCONSIDERATION OFRESOLUTIONS OF 10
D
ISAPPROVAL OFAPPOINTMENT OFJUDGES.— 11
‘‘(1) A
PPLICATION OF PROCEDURES .—The pro-12
visions of section 604 shall apply with respect to a 13
joint resolution described in paragraph (2) in the 14
same manner and to the same extent as such provi-15
sions apply to a joint resolution which is described 16
in section 604(b) and which disapproves an act of 17
the District of Columbia Council which is trans-18
mitted pursuant to section 602(c)(1). 19
‘‘(2) R
ESOLUTIONS DESCRIBED .—A resolution 20
described in this paragraph is a resolution, the mat-21
ter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: 22
‘That the llllllll disapproves of the ap-23
pointment of llllllll as a judge of the 24
llllllll .’, with the first blank filled in 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 483 IH
with the name of the House of Congress involved, 1
the second blank filled in with the name of the indi-2
vidual involved, and the third blank filled in with the 3
name of the District of Columbia court involved, but 4
does not include any resolution which specifies more 5
than one action.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 7
of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 8
to section 434 the following new item: 9
‘‘Sec. 434A. Authorizing Congress to prevent appointment through resolution of
disapproval.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The amendments made by this 11
Act shall apply with respect to appointments of judges of 12
the District of Columbia courts which are made on or after 13
the date of the enactment of this Act. 14
(b) T
RANSITIONRULE FORCURRENTNOMINEES.— 15
Section 434A of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act 16
(as added by section 3(a)) shall apply with respect to an 17
individual whose nomination as a judge of the District of 18
Columbia courts is pending as of the date of the enact-19
ment of this Act as follows: 20
(1) In the case of an individual nominated by 21
the President under section 433 of such Act (as in 22
effect prior to the effective date of this Act), the 23
President shall be deemed to have transmitted notice 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 483 IH
of the appointment of the individual as a judge of 1
the District of Columbia courts to the Speaker of 2
the House of Representatives and the President pro 3
tempore of the Senate on the date of the enactment 4
of this Act. 5
(2) In the case of an individual nominated by 6
the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Com-7
mission under section 434 of such Act (as in effect 8
prior to the effective date of this Act), the Commis-9
sion shall be deemed to have transmitted notice of 10
the appointment of the individual as a judge of the 11
District of Columbia courts to the Speaker of the 12
House of Representatives and the President pro 13
tempore of the Senate on the date of the enactment 14
of this Act. 15
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:36 Feb 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H483.IH H483
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS