Immigration courts break free from the Department of Justice.
S. 5094 — Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2026 · Filed by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill moves immigration courts out of the Department of Justice. It makes them independent, like federal courts. The new system has three levels: appeals, trials, and support staff. Judges get job security and higher pay. All immigration cases go to this new court system.
Who it affects
Immigrants in removal cases get judges who are not controlled by the President. Immigrants still do not get free lawyers. Immigrants still face removal under current law.
One thing to notice
The President appoints the top 21 judges. Those judges then appoint all lower judges. This creates an indirect way for the President to influence cases.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
10 cosponsors: 10 Democrats.
- Jul 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- independent — Free from control by the President or other branches of government.
- job security — Protection that keeps judges from being fired without a legal reason.
- removal — When the government forces a person to leave the country.
- appointed — Chosen by someone in power to hold a job or position.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,012 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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