News and Announcements

During the 12-month period ending December 31, 2015, 844,495 cases were filed in federal bankruptcy courts, down from the 936,795 bankruptcy cases filed in calendar year 2014—a 9.9 percent drop in filings. 

Profiles of seven African American federal judges, who overcame various obstacles on their path to the bench, are featured on the US Courts YouTube channel in recognition of African American history month.

Approximately 80 percent of federal offenders remain free of felony arrest during their first three years back in the community after release from prison, and fewer than 15 percent of those are re-arrested for serious offenses even three years after completing their term of supervision, according to what is believed to be the largest study ever of federal offenders.

The next in an ongoing series of public hearings looking at the Criminal Justice Act will be held in January 2016 in Miami, Florida. 

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has issued his 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, focusing on amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 omnibus appropriations bill passed by Congress contains $6.78 billion in discretionary funding for the federal Judiciary, a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year and essentially equal to the Judiciary’s final budget request.

Court libraries and librarians in all 12 regional circuits are playing a leading role in two of the federal Judiciary’s most critical management initiatives: reducing building space and containing personnel and other costs.

With the original Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence serving as the backdrop, President Barack Obama and Chief Judge Richard Roberts of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., congratulated citizens from 26 countries during a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives. 

The Conrad B. Duberstein U.S. Bankruptcy Courthouse in Brooklyn is currently hosting an exhibit of 95 framed photographs of historic New York City landmarks.

Does freedom of speech protect the right to wear protest armbands at school? Do school administrators need a warrant to search a student suspected of wrongdoing? December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, celebrating the day that the Constitution’s first 10 Amendments were ratified in 1791.