2002 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (cont.)

The Supreme Court of the United States

As I noted last year, the infrastructure of the Supreme Court’s building has not been changed in any basic way since the building was opened in 1935. I remain hopeful that the remaining funds necessary to implement our building modernization program, which has been in the planning stage for several years, will be included in our Fiscal Year 2003 appropriation. Significant safety and security upgrades to the Supreme Court building are included in the project and should not be delayed.

The total number of case filings in the Supreme Court increased from 7,852 in the 2000 Term to 7,924 in the 2001 Term—an increase of 1 percent. Filings in the Court’s in forma pauperis docket increased from 5,897 to 6,037—a 2.4 percent rise. The Court’s paid docket decreased by 68 cases, from 1,954 to 1,886—a 3.5 percent decline. During the 2001 Term, 88 cases were argued and 85 were disposed of in 76 signed opinions, compared to 86 cases argued and 83 disposed of in 77 signed opinions in the 2000 Term. No cases from the 2001 Term were scheduled for re-argument in the 2002 Term.

The Federal Courts’ Caseload

The federal courts experienced record levels of activity in 2002. Significantly affected were the U.S. bankruptcy courts, where the number of filings grew 8 percent—from 1,437,354 to 1,547,669.3 Civil filings in the U.S. district courts climbed 10 percent to 274,8414 and criminal cases rose 7 percent to 67,000 with the number of defendants growing 6 percent to 88,354.5 The number of persons on probation and supervised release went up by 4 percent to a new record of 108,792.6 This increase was matched by a 4 percent gain in the number of defendants activated in the pretrial services system.7 Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals increased 0.2 percent to 57,555, another all-time high.8

1See, e.g., "Insecure About Their Future: Why Some Judges Leave the Bench," The Third Branch, Vol. 34, No. 2, February 2002.

2June 14, 2002, Statement of Leonidas Ralph Mecham, Secretary of the Judicial Conference of the United States, submitted to the National Commission on the Public Service, at p. 7; "Federal Judicial Pay Erosion - A Report on the Need for Reform," by the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, February 2001, p. 15, n. 46.

3The 1,547,669 filings represent a new all-time high. Nonbusiness filings increased 8 percent and business petitions rose 2 percent. Filings under chapter 7 increased 7 percent, filings under chapter 11 increased 11 percent, and filings under chapter 13 increased 10 percent. Bankruptcy filings have risen 72.5 percent since 1993.

4Filings involving federal question jurisdiction increased 18 percent, chiefly as a result of personal injury cases quadrupling to 29,636. Most of these cases were related to asbestos filings, where marked increases occurred nationally. Diversity of citizenship filings increased 16 percent, with personal injury cases, which grew by 32 percent, accounting for most of the increase. Most of these cases were filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of Minnesota. During the past year, both of these districts reported substantial increases in new filings related to the Bayer Company, with filings in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania rising by more than 3,500 cases and the District of Minnesota reporting more than 2,000 new filings. In anticipation of continued growth in these cases, they are being transferred to the District of Minnesota under Multi-district Litigation Docket Number 1431 after being filed in their respective local jurisdictions. Despite the overall increase in civil filings, excluding personal injury, civil filings decreased 2 percent. Filings involving the United States as plaintiff or defendant dropped 15 percent, mostly because of a 36 percent decline in cases with the United States as plaintiff. Most of these filings involved the United States seeking the recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments related to defaulted student loans, which fell by 60 percent. Filings with the United States as defendant decreased 3 percent, mostly due to a sharp decline in federal prisoner petitions, which fell 17 percent. Despite the overall decline in U.S. defendant-based filings, Social Security filings increased 7 percent, primarily as a result of a 13 percent increase in supplemental security income filings. Over the last ten years, civil filings have increased 20 percent.

5Nationwide, criminal filings rose in 65 districts, with 50 districts receiving 10 percent more filings than they did in 2001. Criminal cases per authorized judgeship rose from 94 to 101. During the last nine years, criminal filings and criminal cases per authorized judgeship rose every year except in 2001. In 2001, cases per judgeship declined as filings that year remained stable and ten new judgeships were created. This year’s Report covers the first full year of caseload statistics since the attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2002, overall criminal filings rose primarily due to increases in firearms, immigration, drug, and fraud cases. Federal courts received more defendants charged with firearms offenses and with fraud than in any previous year. Firearms filings surged 26 percent to 7,382 cases, fraud filings increased 8 percent to 8,204 cases, and drug filings rose 4 percent to 19,215 cases. Immigration cases, after declining in 2001, jumped 12 percent to 12,576 cases. Filings of cases involving extortion and racketeering climbed 27 percent to 594, and sex offenses increased 17 percent to 1,187. Offenses involving violation of aircraft regulations and explosives also rose. Criminal filings have risen 43 percent since 1993.

6Persons serving terms of supervised release following their release from prison totaled 73,189 on September 30, 2002, and constituted 67 percent of all persons under supervision, while the number of individuals on parole declined 9 percent to 3,384 persons and comprised 3 percent of those under supervision. The number of persons on probation declined 1 percent to 31,272, due to a drop in the number of times probation was imposed by magistrate judges. Of the 108,792 persons under supervision, 43 percent had been charged with drug-related offenses, up 1 percent from one year ago. There are now 25 percent more persons under supervision than there were in 1993.

7The number of defendants in pretrial services cases opened in 2002 increased 4 percent to 89,421, and the number of pretrial services reports prepared also rose 4 percent, while the number of defendants interviewed increased 2 percent. In conjunction with all pretrial services cases closed during the year, a total of 206,715 pretrial hearings were held, an increase of 6 percent over the total in 2001. During the past ten years, pretrial services cases activated have increased 57 percent.

8An influx of immigration administrative agency appeals related to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ effort to clear its backlog of cases was responsible for the overall rise. Administrative agency appeals surged 75 percent and criminal appeals grew 3 percent, which offset declines in original proceedings (down 34 percent), bankruptcy appeals (down 12 percent), and civil appeals (down 2 percent). Appeals filings have grown 15 percent over the past ten years.
 

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