[205]
Believing that the Chief Justice should be responsible for the federal courts, Taft felt that he should have an administrative staff to assist him, and the chief justice should be empowered to temporarily reassign judges.[206] He also believed the federal courts had been ill-run. Many of the lower courts had lengthy backlogs, as did the Supreme Court.[207] Immediately on taking office, Taft made it a priority to confer with Attorney General Daugherty as to new legislation,[208] and made his case before congressional hearings, in legal periodicals and in speeches across the country.[209] When Congress convened in December 1921, a bill was introduced for 24 new judges, to empower the Chief Justice to move judges temporarily to eliminate the delays, and to have him chair a body consisting of the senior appellate judge of each circuit. Congress objected to some aspects, requiring Taft to get the agreement of the senior judge of each involved circuit before assigning a judge, but it passed the bill in September 1922, and the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges held its first meeting that December.