Annual Report 2021

In 2021, the Judiciary confronted uniquely trying times: The global pandemic placed serious constraints on the courts for a second straight year, with continual fluctuations in public health conditions directly impacting court operations. There were other major challenges: We saw spikes in caseloads driven by the Supreme Court’s decision in the McGirt case and by the Jan. 6 upheaval at the Capitol. And we experienced heightened cybersecurity threats to government technology systems.

With dedication and determination, the Judiciary met these challenges over the course of 2021. The Judicial Conference and its committees, the judges and staff in court offices and federal defender organizations across the country, and the staff of the Administrative Office found innovative solutions to emerging problems. Throughout, we also stayed on task with ongoing initiatives that are vital to the Judiciary’s future, such as the modernization of our case management system and the efforts to ensure a safe and respectful workplace for all of our 30,000 employees.

Most importantly, in the face of trying times, we met our obligations under the Constitution as an independent and co-equal branch of government, just as the federal courts have done for more than two centuries.

Without doubt, a key focus for 2021 was keeping the work of the courts moving apace during the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, the courts adopted measures to keep employees and the public safe while easing and tightening restrictions as needed during fluctuating local health conditions. The COVID-19 Judiciary Task Force, made up of judges, staff, and representatives from the U.S. Marshals Service and other external partners, worked tirelessly through the year to support courts in their local decision-making. Courts received frequently updated guidance, including A Safe Return to the Workplace handbook and webcast, strategies for vaccination and testing requirements, and compilations of court orders and local practice documents that facilitated knowledge-sharing.

The Judiciary community and the public were kept apprised of the status of court operations, changes to practices, and the availability of financial and other resources necessary to sustain operations. I am very proud of the resiliency of the branch over the past two years of the pandemic, and I believe we have learned from the experience in ways that will help us function even better in the future.

Another serious challenge for the Judiciary in 2021 was unanticipated surges in caseloads. The decision by the Supreme Court in McGirt v. Oklahoma resulted in a spike in prosecutions and caseloads in Oklahoma, prompting quick action to provide emergency assistance to the affected court districts. The Judicial Conference made an emergency request to Congress to authorize new judgeships, and additional personnel were authorized at all operational levels, from chambers staff to probation and pretrial services. The AO also worked with the courts to resolve unexpected space needs.

The Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building led to what has been called the largest federal prosecution in the nation’s history, both in the number of defendants and the volume of the evidence. To ensure the availability of qualified counsel, assistant federal defenders were recruited from around the country to assist the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia with more than 675 defendants. Many of them relied for their defense on federal defenders or Criminal Justice Act panel attorneys, the private attorneys appointed by a court to represent individuals without the means to retain counsel.

I am extremely proud of our federal public defenders for their unflagging dedication to their Sixth Amendment obligations, even under the most trying circumstances.

Like many other government entities, the Judiciary also had to confront the challenge of the SolarWinds cyberattack. The AO responded with the formation of the IT Cybersecurity Task Force to examine the branch’s security posture and make recommendations to ensure its alignment with industry and government IT security best practices. The federal courts also added new security procedures to protect highly sensitive confidential documents filed with the courts.

While it’s natural and necessary to focus on crises when they arise, the Judiciary in 2021 advanced several ongoing initiatives vital to its operations. One is the effort to modernize the Case Management and Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system, which will allow the courts to more effectively manage their work electronically and provide improved public access to federal court records. We remain fully committed to this endeavor, and I can report that we made significant progress over the course of the year in the early phases of this critical project. Working with Congress, we will need to identify reliable revenue sources and make sure we have the necessary flexibility to meet changing technology and security needs.

Also continuing this past year was the development of a new Probation and Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System, used to manage supervision and investigations. The new system will provide a single database for all case records, from pretrial bail reports to presentence investigation documents, and will also facilitate greater data-sharing among offices nationally.

Along with effectively managing crises and keeping important future-shaping initiatives on track, we have been vigilant in upholding and promoting the Judiciary’s core values. First is our commitment to fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace for our employees, who are the heart and soul of our branch. In 2021, we continued to make improvements to the policies and safeguards that protect employees from inappropriate workplace conduct.

With the steps taken to date, Judiciary employees have additional venues to report workplace concerns, including options for reporting anonymously and to individuals outside the chain of command. They also have flexible options for addressing workplace conduct concerns, such as informal advice and assisted resolution. In addition, employees have multiple resources for guidance and assistance, including the national Office of Judicial Integrity, circuit-level Directors of Workplace Relations, and court-based Employment Dispute Resolution coordinators. We are committed to building upon the accomplishments achieved to date, and I look forward to working closely with the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group and all in the Judiciary community to sustain our exemplary workplace.

We also are focused on recruiting, hiring, and retaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce, and ensuring a workplace that is welcoming and respectful to all. The Judicial Conference approved an updated Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary to add a core value called Diversity and Respect. Several new initiatives were undertaken. The AO hired a Diversity and Inclusion Officer and we conducted our first workforce demographic survey, allowing employees to self-report their race, ethnicity, and gender identity. The results will help us better understand how our workforce compares with others in government and private industry and develop recruitment strategies that foster greater diversity among applicants in our efforts to find the most qualified candidates.

Accountability is another Judiciary core value. Sound resource management not only protects taxpayer funds but goes a long way toward producing better program outcomes and enhancing public confidence in the integrity and efficiency of our systems and processes. In the past year, we invested in key management initiatives to ensure proper oversight of contracts and the early identification of risks to large development projects. We continued to add resources for the Office of Compliance and Risk to be sure we can identify, mitigate, and monitor the probability of risks to our operations and maximize opportunities for success. We are also expanding support for contract management and oversight, aimed at obtaining the best value in every contract we execute. Stringent standards in the area of judicial ethics are also essential. The AO and the Judicial Conference committees are continuing to work to improve the automated detection of potential financial conflicts for judges and to increase awareness and training for thorough conflict-checking.

All of these varied initiatives and efforts over the course of 2021 share something in common. They underscore the Judiciary’s commitment to maintaining the public’s trust and confidence. That commitment is foundational in a democratic system based on separate and co-equal branches of government. The past year has shown that the public and the rest of government can rely on the dedication, resourcefulness, innovation, and hard work of our judges and employees in the most trying of times.  

The start of a new year always brings hope, and I hope, in the not-to-distance future, to see the full restoration of face-to-face operations so important to the elemental humanity in our federal court system. As we look forward, we will strive to embrace the innovation and lessons learned from the past year. And we will continue to do what it takes to meet new challenges to safeguard what is precious to all of us — a fair, impartial, and independent judicial branch.