Judiciary News

Who knew vampires were into social media? A student vampire club, calling themselves The Fangtastics, goes to court when high school administrators drive a stake through the heart of their online postings.

Four Fellows have been selected to participate in the 2012-2013 Supreme Court Fellows Program beginning this fall. The Fellows Program was created in 1973 by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, and offers, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., "a unique opportunity for exceptional individuals to contribute to the administration of justice at the national level."

The Western District of Washington hosted a multi-district, multi-agency emergency preparedness summit this summer, bringing together representatives from the federal courts, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service, and other government agencies.

A gavel changed hands in the Central District of California last week as the district welcomed its new chief judge.

By law, the Supreme Court of the United States starts its new term the first Monday in October -- a practice that has occurred for nearly 100 years.

A new federal courthouse was dedicated last month in downtown Billings, Montana. The District of Montana’s court family, guests, and invited speaker, Administrative Office Director Judge Thomas Hogan officially opened the courthouse, which replaces an aging facility with significant security and asbestos problems.

Congress has passed and the President is expected to sign into law, H.R. 5512, the Divisional Realignment Act of 2012. The legislation, introduced in May, realigns divisions in the U.S. District Courts in the Eastern District of Missouri and the Northern District of Mississippi.

Two programs organized each summer by the U.S. District Court for the District Massachusetts teach Boston area high school and college students about the federal judiciary. In the process, the students are helped to discover their own potential.

The Judicial Conference of the United States today agreed to close six non-resident federal court facilities—the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures implemented by the federal Judiciary’s national policy-making body.

On August 30, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania held a town hall in Pittsburgh, PA, introducing attorneys to a new pilot program aimed at expediting the relatively simple cases on the court’s civil docket.

The federal courts continue to improve their juror utilization rates, which in turn has led to savings for the Judiciary of nearly $300,000.

A 2011 statistical report on debtors with primarily consumer debt filing for bankruptcy shows an 11 percent drop in case filings, a 23 percent drop in filer assets, 25 percent drop in filer liabilities and a 28 percent incidence of repeat filers.

UPDATED: August 30, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. – In the Southern District of Alabama, the federal courthouse will be closed Wednesday, August 29, 2012, due to the effects from Tropical Storm Isaac. Normal operations will resume on Thursday, August 30, 2012.

A Judicial Conference Committee has updated the model set of jury instructions federal judges use to deter jurors from using social media to research or communicate about cases on which they serve.

The public comment period has opened for several proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Practice and Procedure, which govern litigation in the federal courts. The comment period closes February 15, 2013.