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The President’s pick for the United States Supreme Court has so far been stonewalled by the U.S. Senate, but as Matt Galka tells us, the problem doesn’t stop in the country’s highest court…Florida has a federal judge problem, too.

Four judicial vacancies have created emergency situations in the central and southern parts of the state according to a new report from government watchdog Integrity Florida.

“Potential impacts include case delays, less time spent on cases because of higher case loads, increased administrative burdens, and increased risk of judicial burnout,” said Executive Director Ben Wilcox.

And even though many of us may not find ourselves in front of a federal judge, their impact can reach everyone.

“Well they’re extremely important, three cases in the last year and a half or two illustrate that. There was Planned Parenthood abortion decision, there was a redistricting decision, and the same sex marriage decision. All of those have sweeping impacts on the people of Florida,” said Alan Stonecipher who helped author the report.

So what do federal judges and emergency rooms have to do with each other? The writers of the report say that when either are short staffed, people can suffer.

“You can liken it to an emergency room, you have all sorts of business in there and you can run as fast as you can and give decent care to everyone, but at some point it breaks down, and you’re not able to give the best quality care to a patient, it’s similar to that for judgeships,” said Stonecipher.

The U.S. Senate has yet to act on the nominations for the vacant positions. And there are more vacancies on the way.

Three nominations were made this past April and one was made in February of last year for the vacant positions.  The report says that when cases are delayed due to vacancies, the cost gets passed on to the taxpayers.