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Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2022

In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 604(a)(2), each year the Administrative Office of the United States Courts is required to provide a report of statistical information on the caseload of the federal courts for the 12-month period ending March 31.

This report presents data on the work of the appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts and on the probation and pretrial services systems. During the time covered by this report, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the workload of most components of the federal Judiciary. When COVID cases rose in their regions, federal courts modified their operations, employing teleconferencing and other electronic methods to conduct business, maintaining social distancing requirements, and implementing other safety measures that presented challenges for staging proceedings, including trials.

The following is a summary of key findings for the year ending March 31, 2022.

U.S. Courts of Appeals

Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals fell 7 percent to 42,900 (down 3,265 appeals) in 2022. This decrease stemmed from lower filings of appeals of administrative agency decisions, original proceedings and miscellaneous applications, civil appeals, and bankruptcy appeals, which more than offset an increase in criminal appeals.

Civil appeals decreased by 939 cases to 22,794.

Criminal appeals climbed 5 percent to 10,355, mainly because of a 19 percent increase in appeals related to firearms and explosives offenses and a 50 percent rise in appeals addressing immigration offenses.

Appeals of administrative agency decisions fell 24 percent to 5,695, mostly due to a reduction in appeals of decisions by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications fell 23 percent to 3,396, largely because of a 34 percent decrease in original proceedings related to second or successive motions for writs of habeas corpus (down 910 proceedings).

Bankruptcy appeals fell 5 percent to 660.

Appeals Court Filings
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Filings -24.0 -13.1 -7.1
Criminal Appeals -18.3 7.1 5.0
Civil Appeals -24.1 -18.4 -4.0
     U.S. Prisoner Petitions -39.0 -44.9 -20.6
     Other U.S. Civil -15.5 -12.8 -9.3
     Private Prisoner Petitions -32.2 -20.7 -5.6
     Other Private Civil -13.7 -5.5 4.4
Bankruptcy Appeals -27.8 -9.3 -4.6
Administrative Agency Appeals -30.8 -3.7 -24.0
Original Proceedings and Miscellaneous Applications1 -26.2 -33.8 -22.6
1 Beginning in March 2014, data include miscellaneous cases not included previously. 

Case terminations remained stable, rising less than 1 percent to 47,322. Pending cases decreased 12 percent to 33,582.

For data on activity of the appellate courts, see the B series of tables.

Bankruptcy Appellate Panels

The Bankruptcy appellate panels (BAPs) reported that total filings decreased 7 percent to 403 (down 30 appeals). BAPs are three-judge panels authorized to hear appeals of bankruptcy court decisions. BAPs are units of the federal courts of appeals, and each BAP must be established by a circuit judicial council. Five federal judicial circuits—the First, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits—have BAPs.

This year, BAP filings fell in four of these circuits and increased in one circuit. Filings dropped by 26 appeals (down 45 percent) in the Tenth Circuit, by 10 appeals in both the Sixth Circuit (down 26 percent) and the First Circuit (down 24 percent), and by 9 appeals (down 41 percent) in the Eighth Circuit. Filings grew by 25 appeals (up 9 percent) in the Ninth Circuit.

For data on activity of the BAPs, see Tables BAP-1 and Tables BAP-2

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Filings in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decreased 15 percent to 1,390.

Federal Circuit Filings
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Filings 5.0 -14.0 -15.24
U.S. Court of Federal Claims -2.5 -13.2 -48.87
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Appeals 288.7 -4.6 -11.62
U.S. District Court Appeals -47.0 -46.2 -10.40

Terminations of appeals declined 6 percent to 1,386 (down 93 appeals). The pending caseload remained relatively unchanged (up 2 appeals).

For data on activity of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, see Table B-8.

U.S. District Courts

Combined filings in the U.S. district courts for civil cases and criminal defendants decreased by 146,264 (down 28 percent) to 380,213. Terminations rose by 5,473 (up 2 percent) to 331,550. As filings exceeded terminations, the total for pending civil cases and criminal defendants grew by 49,250 (up 7 percent) to 761,028.

Civil Filings

Civil case filings in the U.S. district courts dropped 33 percent (down 152,376 cases) to 309,102. This change occurred largely because of a reduction in multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases directly filed in the Northern District of Florida that alleged that the 3M Company sold its Combat Arms earplugs to the U.S. military without disclosing defects that reduced hearing protection.

Filings of cases involving diversity of citizenship (i.e., disputes between citizens of different states and/or between U.S. citizens and citizens of foreign nations) fell 49 percent to 141,125.

Filings with the United States as defendant fell 28 percent to 33,965.

Filings with the United States as plaintiff dropped 13 percent to 2,844.

Federal question filings went down 3 percent to 131,168.

Civil Case Filings
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Filings 13.7 11.6 -33.0
Federal Question Cases -8.3 -11.4 -3.2
Diversity of Citizenship Cases 73.8 65.4 -48.8
U.S. Defendant Cases -14.5 -12.5 -28.2
U.S. Plaintiff Cases -64.5 -40.6 -13.5

Civil case terminations declined 3 percent to 261,192.

Pending civil cases grew 8 percent to 638,264.

For data on activity related to civil cases in the district courts, see the C series of tables.

Criminal Filings

Criminal defendant filings (including transfers) in the U.S district courts increased 9 percent (up 6,112 defendants) to 71,111.

Filings involving drug offenses, which accounted for 30 percent of total defendant filings, went up 1 percent to 21,344.

Filings for defendants charged with immigration offenses, which constituted 26 percent of all defendant filings, grew 15 percent to 18,334 (this total does not include defendants charged with immigration crimes in petty offense cases disposed of by magistrate judges).

Growth also occurred in filings for the following categories of criminal defendants.

Criminal Defendant Filings (Excluding Transfers)
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Defendant Filings -22.6 -12.8 9.4
Immigration Offense Defendants -25.1 -21.3 14.9
Drug Crime Defendants -26.9 -14.3 0.9
Firearms and Explosives Crime Defendants 34.7 4.8 1.0
Sex Offense Defendants -2.2 2.9 11.8
Property Crime Defendants -46.2 -18.6 21.0

Terminations for criminal defendants increased 24 percent to 70,358. The number for defendants pending rose 1 percent to 122,764.

For data on activity related to criminal defendants in the district courts, see the D series of tables.

U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

Filings of bankruptcy petitions fell 16.5 percent (down 77,976 petitions) to 395,373 (this total includes filings in the territorial courts—i.e., the Districts of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where bankruptcy cases are heard by district court judges or visiting bankruptcy judges). Of the 90 bankruptcy courts, 89 reported lower filings. The reduction in bankruptcy petitions has been attributed mainly to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fewer petitions were filed under chapters 7, 11, 12, and 15 of the bankruptcy code. More petitions were filed under chapters 9 and 13.

Petitions filed by debtors with predominantly business debts fell 34 percent to 13,160. Debtors with nonbusiness (i.e., largely consumer) debts filed 382,213 petitions, 16 percent fewer than the previous year. Nonbusiness cases accounted for 97 percent of all petitions.

Bankruptcy Court Filings
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021

Total Filings

-66.2 -49.3 -16.5
Chapter 7 -67.1 -44.9 -23.2
Chapter 11 -55.8 -44.0 -44.6
Chapter 13 -64.6 -56.8 5.2

Terminations of bankruptcy cases declined 18 percent to 518,805, and the number of cases pending on March 31 decreased 15 percent from the previous year’s total to 705,394 (both totals include terminated and pending cases in the territorial courts).

For data on the activity of the bankruptcy courts, see the F series of tables.

Adversary Proceedings

Adversary proceedings are separate civil lawsuits that arise in bankruptcy cases, including actions to object to or revoke discharges, to obtain injunctions or other equitable relief, and to determine the dischargeability of debt. Adversary proceedings may be associated with consumer bankruptcy cases, but most arise in cases filed under chapter 11 (which is typically associated with business bankruptcies). Because of time limits imposed by Section 546 of the bankruptcy code, the number of adversary proceedings filed usually is related to the number of chapter 11 cases filed two years earlier.

During the 12-month period ending March 31, 2022, filings of adversary proceedings declined 18 percent to 14,762 (this total includes filings in the territorial courts—i.e., the Districts of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where bankruptcy cases are heard by district court judges or visiting bankruptcy judges). Seventy-six of the 90 bankruptcy courts reported reductions in filings, 13 of the bankruptcy courts experienced increases in filings, and filings in 1 bankruptcy court remained unchanged during this reporting period.

The number of adversary proceedings terminated fell 14 percent to 18,035. The number of pending adversary proceedings dropped 7 percent from the previous year to 20,147. These totals include terminated and pending adversary proceedings in the territorial courts.

For data on adversary proceedings filed in the bankruptcy courts, see Table F-8.

Post-Conviction Supervision

The number of persons under post-conviction supervision as of March 31, 2022, changed little from the total 12 months earlier, falling less than 1 percent from the prior year to 124,205 (down 921 persons). Persons serving terms of supervised release on that date following release from a correctional institution also remained relatively steady, decreasing less than 1 percent to 110,852.

Cases remaining open on March 31, 2022, that involved probation imposed by district and magistrate judges were fairly stable, rising less than 1 percent from the previous year’s total to 12,418.

Persons on parole, special parole, military parole, and mandatory release on the last day of the reporting period declined 11 percent to 674.

Persons Under Post-Conviction Supervision
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Under Supervision -6.1 -6.1 -0.7
Serving Terms of Supervised Release 1.7 -3.5 -0.7
On Probation -42.3 -23.6 0.8
On Parole -56.1 -29.5 -11.0

The number of persons received for post-conviction supervision was 61,734, an increase of 7 percent from the previous year.

Closings of post-conviction supervision cases (excluding transfers and deaths) grew 3 percent to 51,711 (up 1,597 cases).

In addition to their supervision duties, probation officers conduct investigations and prepare comprehensive reports to aid judges in sentencing convicted defendants. The officers’ presentence reports contain detailed background information on defendants and discuss issues related to the advisory sentencing guidelines.

For data on post-conviction supervision activity, see the E series of tables.

Pretrial Services

The number of cases activated in the pretrial services system equaled 74,119, an increase of 14 percent from 2021.

The number of defendants received for supervision in the pretrial services system was 25,197, which was 7 percent more than the number received in 2021.

A total of 72,958 pretrial services cases were closed, an increase of 25 percent.

Pretrial Services Filings
Percent Change Over Time
  Since 2013 Since 2018 Since 2021
Total Cases Activated -30.6 -19.7 14.4
Pretrial Services Cases Activated -30.4 -19.8 14.3
Pretrial Diversion Cases Activated -54.9 -16.0 16.9
Received for Supervision -11.8 9.5 7.0
Pretrial Supervision -9.8 10.4 7.1
Diversion Supervision -56.9 -20.2 4.7

Pretrial services officers prepare reports for judges to use in determining whether to order the release or detention of defendants. They also provide information judges use in establishing appropriate conditions for released defendants.

For persons under pretrial supervision, officers monitored their compliance with release conditions set by the courts, made referrals for support services that offer alternatives to detention (such as substance abuse treatment), and informed the courts and U.S. attorneys of apparent violations of release conditions.

For data on pretrial services activity, see the H series of tables.