The U.S. Senate this week approved two new associate judges to join the depleted ranks of the D.C. Superior Court bench, trimming persistent vacancies that court data show bog down cases and can delay justice for victims.
The appointments bring to 11 the number of openings facing the court, which has at times in recent years had more than a dozen vacancies across its 62 judgeships — a perennial source of tension between local leaders and the elected federal officials who hold the unique power to fill the positions.
This week’s appointees are Judith E. Pipe, a former D.C. public defender who was named a D.C. Superior Court magistrate judge in 2020, and Tanya M. Jones Bosier, who President Biden nominated to the post in March 2023.
A court spokesman heralded the appointments Wednesday while saying that the work of filling openings must continue.
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“The D.C. Courts are grateful to the esteemed members of the United States Senate for taking some initial steps to addressing our substantial and long-standing judicial vacancy crisis,” said Douglas J. Buchanan.
The vacancies have meant that the city’s cases — ranging from homicide, sexual assault, carjacking and robbery to adoptions, child support and neglect — take 200 days longer on average to complete than they did in 2019, according to court data.
Biden nominated Pipe in June 2023. As a former defense attorney, Pipe often specialized in homicide cases. Among her high-profile assignments was the 2013 case of a Catholic woman studying to become a nun who was charged with killing her newborn son in Northeast Washington, near Catholic University. In 2015, Pipe defended Daron Wint, the Maryland man convicted in the 2015 brutal slayings of Washington businessman Savvas Savopoulos, his wife Amy, their 10-year-old son Philip and the family’s housekeeper Veralicia “Vera” Figueroa in the family’s upper Northwest Washington home and then setting the house on fire.
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Jones Bosier was appointed as a magistrate judge at the courthouse in 2017. Before that appointment she served as an assistant general counsel for the D.C. Courts and as a former prosecutor within the city’s Office of the Attorney General. While at OAG, Jones Bosier worked on child abuse and neglect, child support and domestic violence cases on behalf of the city. Jones Bosier served as a former law clerk to the court’s now retired Judge Zoe A. Bush.
In the fall, when Judge Anita Josey-Herring plans to retire as the court’s chief judge, the court’s vacancies among judges who handle daily cases will be up to 12.
A majority of the vacancies are due to judges retiring from day-to-day operations and assuming senior status. With a shortage of judges, other judges in the courthouse took on additional assignments, which also caused cases in criminal and civil division to be delayed until judges’ calendars opened up.
In addition to the 11 vacancies in Superior Court, Buchanan said the D.C. Court of Appeals also has two vacancies.
“It is essential that the members of the United States Senate continue to focus on addressing this crisis so that the D.C. Courts can do all that we can to provide fair and timely justice to all of those we serve across the District of Columbia,” Buchanan said.
correction
A previous version of this story said that the D.C. Court of Appeals had one vacancy, based on inaccurate information from a court spokesperson. The court has two vacancies. This article has been corrected.
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