News and Announcements

The 2013-14 Supreme Court Fellows program begins this fall for four mid-career professionals who will have the opportunity to participate over the next year in the administration of the federal court system at the national level.

The Eastern District of Michigan had a problem. Although studies showed the court's juror selection process did not systematically exclude racial minorities, the court recognized there was insufficient minority representation.

Juror scams have been reported in three federal court districts, where victims are falsely being told they missed jury duty and must pay a fine or face arrest.

When fully implemented, a new standard for archiving and disposing of federal court case files will allow the Judiciary to reduce its storage volume by just under one million boxes—enough to fill 16 football fields—at an annual saving of approximately $3 million.

In an emergency move to preserve Federal Defender staffing in FY 2014, the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States has reduced hourly rates for court-appointed panel attorneys by $15 an hour.

Describing themselves as "the boots on the ground in our nation's federal trial courts," 87 chief U.S. District judges have sent a letter to Congressional leaders stating that reduced funding and sequestration have "...forced us to slash our operations to the bone."

A New Jersey federal courthouse placed in the top 10 of biggest losers in a national competition—and that’s good news. By reducing its energy needs by 37 percent over the last year, the Martin Luther King Jr. Courthouse in Newark was a winner in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Energy Star National Building Competition. In 2012, more than 3,000 buildings competed to save energy and money.

Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2013, fell 13 percent when compared to bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2012, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S.

In a congressional hearing on sequestration and the courts, a U.S. judge, federal defender and a private lawyer warned Senators that continued budget cuts would devastate the nation’s system of justice—threatening public safety, constitutional rights and economic well-being.

A federal judge today told a Senate panel that the number of personnel working in U.S. courts is at the lowest level since 1999, and that federal court clerks and probation and pretrial services staff could be furloughed for close to 70,000 hours this fiscal year.