The number of cases in all levels of the federal court system — the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, and bankruptcy courts — grew in fiscal year 2008. Chief Justice John Roberts cited those statistics in an appendix to his 2008 Year-End Report.
The number of appeals filed in the regional courts of appeals rose by 5 percent, to 61,104, filings in FY 2008, the 12 months ending September 30, 2008.
Both civil and criminal filings in the U.S. district courts rose. Civil filings increased by 4 percent, to 267,257 cases. Criminal cases filed rose by 4 percent, to 70,896.
Bankruptcy courts experienced the largest increase in caseloads. New filings rose by 30 percent, to 1,042,993 cases.
The Supreme Court registered a decrease in the total number of cases filed in its 2007 term, a drop of 7 percent — from 8,857 filings to 8,241.
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