The brutal cost of judicial vacancies

Of the 94 judicial vacancies in federal courts across the country, none are more glaring, or more egregious, than those at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

The court, which hears appeals from veterans who've been denied claims for benefits due to service-related injuries, has seen its caseload double in recent years. As The Washington Post reported last week, that works out to "more than 600 cases per judge each year - far more than other federal appellate courts."

Yet three of the court's nine seats are vacant, and no relief is in sight for the remaining members on the bench. The Obama administration has not nominated a replacement for Congress to consider, The Post reported.

It should go without saying that such complacency is unacceptable. The shortage of judges undermines both the ability of the judicial branch to effectively fulfill its duties and the government's obligation to the men and women who've risked their lives to defend it.

Veterans who've sought compensation for their service--related disabilities have always faced battles with their own government, whether those disabilities were related to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam or the illnesses suffered by veterans of the first Gulf War.

Many who navigated the bureaucracy of the Veterans Affairs Department have endured insult added to injury as they've awaited a resolution.

Some have waited more than a decade to resolve a claim for benefits; others died without ever receiving the compensation they were owed.

Such problems have proved particularly vexing for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, where many have survived injuries that would have proved fatal in earlier conflicts. Nearly half of the 1.3 million living combat veterans discharged since those wars began have filed claims for benefits, so the backlog of cases is almost certain to grow.

That makes it all the more necessary for the president to quickly nominate - and for Congress to quickly confirm - qualified judges for the bench, and for the court to give veterans the fair and timely hearing they have earned.