Budget Delay Forces Spending Limits for Federal Courts

The budget crunch in Congress has forced federal courts, left without a Fiscal Year 2003 budget, to impose interim spending limits that will affect the administration of justice.

All federal courts must operate at rates of spending no more than 95 percent of their Fiscal Year 2002 levels. The limitation is designed solely as a short-term measure until Congress acts on a long-term continuing resolution (CR) or a full-year appropriation.

The CR now in effect expires November 22. Congress is expected to return after the November 5 elections to continue work on appropriations bills, but it is unclear when full-year funding will be available.

As a result, all federal courts are being asked by Judiciary leaders to defer the following types of expenses until the funding situation is clarified:

– Most hiring commitments to either expand or replace court support staff.
– Non-essential spending, such as non-case related travel, purchases of furniture or equipment.
– Space maintenance and repair costs not needed to avoid immediate interruption of essential services.

A long-term CR could adversely affect the entire federal court system.

A summary of the impact:

– Post 9/11 security efforts would be severely curtailed.
– Payments to private lawyers retained for indigent defendants under the Criminal Justice Act would fall short.
– More than a month’s worth of civil jury trials would be halted because of insufficient money to pay juror fees.
– Courts would freeze hiring so both new and vacant probation officer positions would go unfilled, which would lessen the supervision of potentially dangerous felons released from prison.