THE LAW: Battling the Backlog

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In British courts, lawsuits, civil and criminal, come to trial within six months. In the U.S., which professes as much respect as Britain for the principle that "justice delayed is justice denied," it takes more than four years, in some Federal District Courts, to get a case to trial. Last week Deputy Attorney General William P. Rogers warned that, if the backlog of cases is not drastically reduced, the Department of Justice "will be prepared to try cases throughout the summer months to take care of what we believe is an emergency situation in our courts."

Addressing the annual United States Attorneys' conference in Washington, Rogers gave the attorneys a clear warning. "The department." he said, "hopes and expects to reduce this backlog of pending cases by 25% by next June 30—or by 7,500 cases at least." Rogers knew whereof he spoke. Of the 15 federal judges in the District of Columbia, only three sat last July, four in August and one in September—although the docket is two years behind. In the six-judge Brooklyn court, no civil case was tried during July, August and September. This was in a district where the docket is about 52 months behind.

The picture was not entirely bleak, Rogers pointed out. In September 1954, 34,521 cases were pending in federal courts. Nine months later, on June 30, 1955, 29,979 cases were pending—a reduction of 4,542. "However," said Rogers, "we cannot be satisfied with the rate of reduction." Adding his voice to that of his deputy, Attorney General Herbert Brownell told the lawyers that the backlog was the department's No. 1 problem. "The immediate objective of the 94 U.S. Attorneys," he said, "is to obtain swifter justice in the courts of our land."