President Joe Biden vetoed legislation on Monday that would have added two seats to Colorado’s federal trial court and a total of 66 federal judgeships nationwide.

The JUDGES Act would have increased the size of federal district courts in two-year increments over multiple presidential administrations. Colorado, which has had seven active district judges for 40 years, would have received an eighth judge for the president to appoint in 2029. In 2033, the court would have expanded to nine judges.

In his explanation for rejecting the bill, Biden argued the legislation sought to “hastily add judgeships” in the final weeks of the 118th Congress and “fails to resolve” certain logistical questions. 

Although the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed the JUDGES Act without objection during the summer, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives waited until after the election to approve the bill. The timing ensured that President-elect Donald Trump would appoint the first two rounds of judges envisioned by the bill.

Among Colorado’s congressional delegation, Republican U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn, Lauren Boebert and Greg Lopez voted to pass the bill this month. Democratic U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen voted against the bill.

U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who lost her reelection last month, was one of 29 Democrats who voted for the legislation.

Unusually, the JUDGES Act garnered the public support of hundreds of federal judges. Days after Election Day, the Federal Judges Association sent a letter to House leadership endorsing the JUDGES Act and related legislation. More than 300 federal trial and appellate judges signed their names to the message.

“The few additional new judgeships per year, over the next 10 years, as proposed by the legislation, would be a very small increase in the number of judicial vacancies that naturally occur during any particular presidential term,” read the letter. “It is the litigants and residents of the Nation who suffer when there is a delay in deciding cases.”

Four semi-retired senior judges on Colorado’s U.S. District Court joined the endorsement:

• Marcia S. Krieger, a George W. Bush appointee who no longer carries a caseload

• Robert E. Blackburn, a Bush appointee

• William J. Martínez, a Barack Obama appointee

• Raymond P. Moore, an Obama appointee

In addition, the letter included the signatures of five judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which hears federal appeals arising from Colorado and five neighboring states:

• Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes of Oklahoma, a Bush appointee

• Senior Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr. of New Mexico, an appointee of George H.W. Bush

• Judge Gregory A. Phillips of Wyoming, an Obama appointee

• Judge Carolyn B. McHugh of Utah, an Obama appointee

• Judge Nancy L. Moritz of Kansas, an Obama appointee

Through the courts’ clerks, Colorado Politics invited the judges who signed the letter to comment on Biden’s veto of the JUDGES Act. None immediately responded to the request.