III. The Year in Review

Vol. 36, Number 1—January 2004

III. The Year in Review

The Supreme Court of the United States

This year we broke ground on our long-anticipated building modernization program. It is my hope that we remain on schedule and complete the project under budget.

The total number of case filings in the Supreme Court increased from 7,924 in the 2001 Term to 8,255 in the 2002 Term—an increase of 4 percent. Filings in the Court's in forma pauperis docket increased from 6,037 to 6,386—a 5.8 percent rise. The Court's paid docket decreased by 17 cases, from 1,886 to 1,869—a 1 percent decline. During the 2002 Term, 84 cases were argued and 79 were disposed of in 71 signed opinions, compared to 88 cases argued and 85 disposed of in 76 signed opinions in the 2001 Term. No cases from the 2002 Term were scheduled for re-argument in the 2003 Term. This year the Court reconvened a month earlier than usual to hear a full day's argument in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act cases. Written opinions deciding the cases were handed down in December.

The Federal Courts' Caseload

In Fiscal Year 2003, the federal courts experienced record highs in filings in most program areas, and a decline in only one. Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals grew 6 percent from 57,555 to 60,847, a record number.3 Criminal case filings increased 5 percent to an all-time high of 70,642, surpassing the previous record reported in 1932, the year before the Prohibition Amendment was repealed.4 In contrast, civil filings declined 8 percent to 252,962.5 Filings in the U.S. bankruptcy courts increased 7 percent from 1,547,669 to 1,661,996, the second consecutive year filings have set a record.6 The number of persons on probation and supervised release went up by 2 percent to an all-time high of 110,621.7 There was a 7 percent gain in the number of defendants activated by pretrial services.8

3 Administrative agency appeals surged 73 percent, bankruptcy appeals increased 7 percent, and criminal appeals increased 3 percent, which more than offset declines in original proceedings (down 7 percent) and civil appeals (down 3 percent). A continued 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. Appeals filings have increased 26 percent since 1994.

4 Filings increased in 63 districts, and 35 districts received at least 10 percent more filings than they did in 2002. Since 1993, criminal case and defendant filings have risen in each year with the lone exception of 2001. The growth in filings this year caused criminal cases per authorized judgeship to climb from 101 in 2002 to 104 in 2003, despite the 15 additional judgeships authorized by Congress that became effective on July 15, 2003. In 2003, the overall growth in the criminal caseload stemmed primarily from immigration and firearms cases, as filings for these offenses reached their highest levels ever. Immigration filings jumped 22 percent to 15,400 cases to surpass the previous record set in 1954 when the Immigration and Naturalization Service began a repatriation project to remove illegal Mexican immigrants. Firearms filings climbed 23 percent to 9,075 cases pursuant to the expansion of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Filings of drug cases declined 1 percent nationally, but still increased in 50 districts. Fraud cases related to nationality laws increased 26 percent to 301 cases, and passport fraud cases rose 57 percent to 411 cases. Criminal filings have risen 55 percent since 1994.

5 Filings related to personal injuries dropped 33 percent, primarily as a result of decreases in personal injury/product liability cases involving asbestos (such filings had soared 98 percent the previous year). Excluding personal injury cases, civil filings otherwise were relatively stable, falling 1 percent.

Total private civil filings fell 8 percent as federal question filings related to asbestos dropped 99 percent. Overall filings involving federal question jurisdiction fell 13 percent, chiefly because personal injury cases decreased 80 percent. Much of this decline can be attributed to asbestos filings, which plummeted by nearly 24,000 cases as far fewer plaintiffs filed cases alleging injuries from asbestos.

Filings involving the United States as plaintiff fell 24 percent, largely due to a 52 percent decrease in student loan cases, which continued a trend that began in 2001 following the implementation of administrative measures by the Department of Education to improve the collection of these debts. Filings with the United States as defendant decreased 3 percent, mostly because of a 6 percent decrease in Social Security cases related to disability insurance and supplemental security income. Diversity of citizenship filings rose 8 percent, with personal injury cases accounting for the bulk of the increase. Over the last ten years, civil filings have increased 7 percent.

6 Nonbusiness filings increased 8 percent and business petitions fell 7 percent. Filings increased under all chapters except chapter 11, surging 117 percent under chapter 12, climbing 9 percent under chapter 7, and increasing 5 percent under chapter 13. Bankruptcy filings under chapter 11, which comprised less than 1 percent of all petitions filed, declined 13 percent. Bankruptcy filings have increased 34 percent during the last ten years.

7 Persons serving terms of supervised release following their release from prison totaled 75,680 on September 30, 2003, and constituted 68 percent of all persons under supervision, while the number of individuals on parole declined 8 percent to 3,129 persons and comprised only 3 percent of those under supervision. The number of persons on probation declined 2 percent to 30,602, due to a drop in both the number of persons on probation imposed by judges and by magistrate judges. Of the 110,621 persons under supervision, 44 percent had been convicted of a drug-related offense, up 1 percent from one year ago. There are now 24 percent more persons under supervision than there were in 1994.

8 The number of defendants in pretrial services system cases opened in 2003, including pretrial diversion cases, increased 7 percent to 97,317, and the number of pretrial reports prepared also rose 7 percent, while the number of defendants interviewed increased 5 percent. In conjunction with all pretrial services cases closed during the year, a total of 221,199 pretrial hearings were held, an increase of 7 percent over the total in 2002. During the past ten years, pretrial services cases activated have increased 67 percent.

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