Eastern District of California Judicial Emergency
The longstanding judicial emergency in the Eastern District of California has been greatly exacerbated by historic numbers of new immigration cases being filed. Our federal judicial district currently has one of the largest volumes of immigration habeas petitions in the nation (currently second in the nation after the Western District of Texas), with approximately 2,400 new cases filed in a three-month time period in 2026, with the majority of these cases being accompanied by requests for emergency relief. This represents a 400% increase from immigration habeas cases filed in all of 2025, and over a 13,000% increase from immigration habeas cases filed in all of 2024. The impact of the unprecedented volume of new immigration cases on our district, which was already under a longstanding judicial crisis, is far-reaching and includes significant delays in the resolution of other federal cases filed in this district.
The Eastern District of California has only 6 active district judges. Other federal judicial districts with comparable immigration habeas petitions as the Eastern District of California have double or more than double the number of active district judgeships (e.g., the Western District of Texas has 13 authorized district judgeships). Our court remains dedicated to access to justice for all and the doors to our courthouse always remain open to litigants.