THE JUDICIAL BUSINESS OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND The District of Maryland is provided with two judgeships and for the last six and one-half years has had the services of Senior Judge Chesnut, who retired on July 31, 1953. Though Judge Chesnut has conducted court almost regularly since his retirement, he is now 87 years old. Court is held at Baltimore, and the term is practically continuous except for the months of July and August. A phenomenal increase in civil cases filed since the end of World War II has occurred in this district. For the sevenyear period from 1946 through 1952, the average yearly total civil filings were 571 including 279 private civil cases. In the succeeding seven-year period, from 1953 to 1959, total civil filings have averaged 892 cases each year including 422 private civil cases. This is an over-all increase of 56 per cent. As a result of the Act of July 25, 1958, curtailing the Jurisdiction of the district courts in diversity of citizenship and federal question cases, total civil cases filed in the District of Maryland declined 20 percent from 1,047 filed in 1958 to 835 filed in 1959. Even with this decline in civil filings, the caseload of 418 cases commenced per judgeship The criminal caseload is also large. During the fiscal year 1959 there were 358 criminal cases filed, 371 were terminated, and 111 were pending on June 30, 1959. Cases filed per judgeship have increased from 122 in 1954 to 176 in 1959. The caseload is now more than 60 percent above the national average of 108 criminal cases per judgeship, excluding the immigration cases filed mostly in the districts bordering on Mexico. The District of Maryland has always made a prompt disposition of its cases. Table 4 attached shows that the median time for disposing of cases by trial has been consistently below the national median. During 1959 the median time interval from filing to disposition for the civil cases tried was 10.4 months compared to a national median of 15.3 months, and the interval from issue to trial was 4.6 months compared to the national median of 10.3 months. This record has been maintained through the diligent effort of the two judges assigned to the district and because of the continuing services of Senior Judge Chesnut. During the first half of the fiscal year 1960 there has been a substantial increase in the civil business of the court, as compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year. The total civil and private civil cases commenced and terminated in the District of Maryland during the first six months of the fiscal years 1959 and 1960 and the number pending at the end of each period appear in the following table: In May 1955, the Judicial Council of the Fourth Circuit recommended the creation of an additional judgeship for Maryland and this was later endorsed by the Judicial Conference of that Circuit. In September 1955, the recommendation was also adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States. However, due to the very large caseload, the Judicial Conference of the United States in March 1959 recommended that two additional judgeships be provided for this district. Complete statistical tables showing the judicial business of the District of Maryland for the last 19 years are attached. Respectfully submitted, February 1, 1960 Joseph F. Spaniol, Jr., Attorney, Administrative Office of the |