Faith S. Hochberg, a former federal judge in New Jersey, retired from the bench in 2015.

Three years later, she has yet to be replaced.

U.S. District Judge William Martini that same year moved to senior status--a form of semi-retirement that allows a judge to continue working at a reduced case level--creating another court vacancy that also has not been filled. Both long-term openings are now considered judicial emergencies.

Last year, former Chief Judge Jerome Simandle moved to senior status as well, with at least two other judges in the federal district announcing they will soon join him in the coming months.

In a few months, the federal courts in New Jersey will be short five judges--possibly more--in a busy judicial district authorized to have 17 active judges. No one has been nominated for any of the vacancies.

"We are heading toward a judicial crisis in the federal courts in New Jersey," warned current Chief Judge Jose L. Linares. "I look at our numbers and I see what is happening and what is coming."

What he sees is a court that last year saw the number of cases grow from 9,674 to more than 13,800 filings--much of that involving complex litigation landing in New Jersey because of the state's concentration of pharmaceutical and technology industries. It puts mounting pressure on an aging judiciary.

New Jersey is not an isolated case, at a time of hard-edged political gridlock in Washington. Appointments at all levels of government have been stalled, with the courts particularly affected.

According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, there are 121 District Court judicial vacancies nationwide, representing nearly 18 percent of the authorized judgeships. There are 17 vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

"Judicial vacancies are just a symptom of a system that can't compromise," observed Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University.

Last week, President Donald Trump nominated nine people to appellate and district court judgeships in some of the country's highest-profile vacancies. But more than two dozen others are awaiting confirmation in the Senate.

The district in New Jersey has been particularly hard hit, say judicial officials, with the number of lingering vacancies only part of the story.

The state's federal courts are not only near the top in the nation in total filings, but also deal with more so-called complex cases than many other courts, including class action lawsuits and other multi-party proceedings, according to monthly judiciary reports.

Linares said that based on the filings and the kind of matters that end up in New Jersey, there are already too many cases and too few judges to handle the caseload--even if the federal judiciary in the state were at full strength.

The Judicial Conference of the United States, a national policy-making body for the federal courts headed by Chief Justice John Roberts, has recommended that Congress add another three permanent judges to the district here.

"We're in a dire situation," said Linares, who has voiced his concerns to the White House and both of New Jersey's senators.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jose L. Linares in his chambers in Newark. (Ted Sherman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

A White House spokesman said the administration does not typically comment on personnel or nominations until there is an official announcement. A spokesman for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) declined comment. The office of Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) did not respond to requests for comment.

Attorneys who practice before the federal court in New Jersey say the vacancies are having an impact.

"Cases are being pushed out further in time," said David Cook of Sills Cummis & Gross in Newark, who serves as a member of the board of trustees of the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey.

While criminal cases are not affected because of the Speedy Trial Act, which establishes time limits for completing a federal criminal prosecution, the proportion of pending cases more than three years old is currently 5.5 percent, court statistics show. While that is down from the previous year, the actual number of "old cases" languishing in the court actually increased, to 674 from 617.

"That number is going to be creeping up," predicted Cook, who said delays affect litigants and tips the scale against plaintiffs. Those appealing Social Security disability decisions are also likely to be forced to wait for a resolution of their cases, he added.

But with the Justice Department planning to expand its offensive against drug crime, more of the court's resources may need to be shifted to criminal cases, experts say.

Despite the vacancies, the federal court in New Jersey still has the services of a number of senior status judges. There are seven senior judges in the district who are able to pick the cases they want to handle, and deal with a reduced caseload.

"Our senior judges are carrying the load as much as they can," remarked Linares. "But they have the right not to have a full caseload."

The federal courthouse in Newark. (Reena Rose Sibayan | Jersey Journal file photo)

Whether the political stalemate affecting the courts can be resolved has yet to play out.

Politics always is part of the process in any judicial nomination. In 2012, Menendez initially declined to endorse the nomination of federal magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz to the U.S. Court of Appeals, in a rare fight between the president and a senator from his own party. He later reversed course and she won approval of the Senate.

The current vacancies in New Jersey stem in part to a Republican majority in the Senate willing to play hardball in the final year of the Obama presidency, according to the liberal Alliance for Justice, which focuses on judicial nominations. Laurie Kinney, a spokeswoman for the group, said the Republicans held off approval of most of Obama's nominees toward the end of his tenure, in hopes that a Republican president would be elected, leading to a big backlog in nominations.

"That gamble paid off, unfortunately," she said.

Kinney pointed to the path through the Senate for Bergen County Counsel Julien X. Neals, who was nominated to the district court by President Obama after Hochberg's retirement.

Neals received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee and his nomination was reported out of committee. But the Republican-controlled Senate never took up his nomination. It died after more than 600 days with the end of the 114th Congress.

Kinney suggested with both the Senate and the White House controlled by Republicans, there is even less motivation to work in a bipartisan fashion.

"Unfortunately, what we've seen is the unwillingness of the Trump administration to work in a bipartisan fashion," she said.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.