Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening remarks during a markup of H.R. 1123, the Divisional Realignment for the Eastern District of Arkansas Act of 2019: 

“H.R. 1123 would amend current law to reduce the number of operating divisions in the Eastern District of Arkansas from five to three.  The bill was prompted by the closure in 2017 of the only federal courthouses in two of the divisions.  The three new divisions created by H.R. 1123 would align with the three remaining courthouses in that district.  The new divisional lines are based on caseload history and travel times to the remaining courthouses.  H.R. 1123 is supported by the Judicial Conference, the Judicial Council of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit, and the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Arkansas. 

“I thank Representative Rick Crawford for sponsoring H.R. 1123, which is cosponsored by the entire Arkansas House delegation, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.”