Judiciary Seeks $9.1 Billion in FY 2024 Budget Request
LIT: THAT’S OVER A BILLION MORE, IN 2 YEARS…
[Re]Published on March 9, 2023
The federal Judiciary is seeking $9.1 billion in discretionary funding from Congress for fiscal year (FY) 2024, an increase of 8.0 percent over the FY 2023 appropriation, according to the Judiciary’s FY 2024 budget request, which was released to the public on March 9.
In the budget submission, Judge Amy J. St. Eve, chair of the Judicial Conference Budget Committee, and Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, wrote that the funding is needed to maintain existing services, add some staffing to address caseload increases, and bolster IT security.
“Our constitutional system of government, with separation of powers and checks and balances, cannot function as intended if the judicial branch is not sufficiently resourced,”
the [lyin’] judges wrote.
“We ask that Congress acknowledge the nature and importance of the work of the federal courts and the impact this work has on society and our democracy by providing the Third Branch with the necessary resources to carry out its constitutional responsibilities.”
The Judiciary’s discretionary budget funds four primary categories of expenditure. The largest category, $6.4 billion for the salaries and expenses of courts nationwide, funds a number of critical new investments, including additional clerks and probation and pretrial services office staff due to higher workload estimates, and tenant alterations required to address life and safety issues.
The request also includes $156.7 million for the courts to support the FY 2024 portion of the Judiciary’s multi-year cybersecurity and IT modernization plan.
Funding also is needed to support newly confirmed judges with working space and chambers staff. In FY 2021 and 2022, a total of 97 Article III judges were confirmed by the Senate, and an additional 110 confirmations are anticipated over FY 2023 and FY 2024.
The Judiciary is requesting $1.5 billion for defender services, an increase of $150.3 million (10.9 percent) over the FY 2023 enacted level. This would fund a projected 204,100 Criminal Justice Act representations in FY 2024. The request also includes $9.9 million for the federal defenders’ FY 2024 costs in support of the Judiciary’s multi-year cybersecurity and IT modernization plan.
A total of $783.5 million is requested for court security, an increase of $33.3 million (4.4 percent) above FY 2023.
The funding would pay for increases to a vulnerability management program started after the 2020 slaying of Judge Esther Salas’ son, at their home in New Jersey.
It also would cover emergency management activities, additional U.S. Marshals Service staffing requirements, and continued replacement and modernization of security systems and equipment.
The Judiciary seeks $59.9 million for jurors’ fees, an increase of $1.7 million (2.9 percent) over the FY 2023 enacted level. The FY 2024 request is sufficient to fund all projected petit and grand juror requirements.
The Judiciary also said funding for three partially funded courthouse projects is needed in the budget of the General Services Administration, which manages courthouse construction. These include $315.6 million in design and construction funding to address a judicial space emergency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and $128.1 million and $76.3 million to fully fund construction of the new courthouses in Hartford, Connecticut, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, respectively. The Judiciary’s request notes that a cost estimate is being developed for a new courthouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
In their submission to Congress, Judges St. Eve and Mauskopf said that federal courts remain committed to prudent management of resources, noting that the Judiciary has employed a cost containment program since 2004. Much of the focus has been on restraining costs for personnel and workspace.
“These efforts have achieved significant cost savings and cost avoidance for nearly twenty years and will continue to do so,” the judges wrote. They added that the Judiciary also is “exploring lessons learned from operating during the pandemic with the goal of identifying additional efficiencies that could be implemented on a longer term or permanent basis.”
LIT COMMENTARY
U.S. Courts are pushing for enhanced security of Federal Judges and increased Judgeships nationwide. We responded to this in a recent article. The courts budget of $8 Billion dollars per annum defies the results that we’re seeing in federal courts. This renewed attempt to push for more money and for more judges should be rejected. They need to retire the Senior judges who are unconstitutional and have been corrupted over their lifetime appointments and start cost-saving rather than keep on enlarging their budget year upon year.
Judiciary Seeks New Judgeships, Reaffirms Need for Enhanced Security
MAR 16, 2021
The Judicial Conference of the United States, the Judiciary’s policy-making body, today addressed two of its most pressing issues – a proposal to add 79 new judgeships (pdf) for courts across the country and initiatives to improve both personal and courthouse security.
“These security initiatives are necessary to keep judges, their families and staffs, and the public visiting our courthouses safe,” said Judge David McKeague. “We need to act on the lessons we learned from events of the past year,” said McKeague, who is chair of the Judicial Conference’s Judicial Security Committee, in remarks at today’s biannual session of the Conference.
Last fall, the Judicial Conference approved a package of security enhancements, including a request for legislation to protect judges’ personally identifiable information on the internet. The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, named after the murdered son of Judge Esther Salas, was introduced last fall in both houses of Congress.
Daniel was shot and killed in the doorway of the family’s New Jersey home in July by a litigant who found the judge’s home address on the internet and posed as a courier. The judge’s husband was seriously wounded and continues to heal. The legislation had bipartisan support but was not acted on before Congress adjourned in December. The cosponsors have indicated they will reintroduce it soon.
The Judicial Conference also supported increased funding for the U.S. Marshals Service. In the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill, Congress provided funds for the Marshals Service to replace outdated security systems at judges’ homes and also increased funding for the Marshals Service Open Source Intelligence Unit, which monitors threats on the internet and dark web.
In addition to the tragic attack at Judge Salas’ home, civil unrest in the past year resulted in damage to over 53 courthouses across the country, a sustained attack on the courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol. As a result, the Judiciary will be submitting a supplemental funding request to Congress that will address existing vulnerabilities at courthouses.
Take CA5 for example https://t.co/UWLrDLXD6C
7 JUDGES OVER 80 YRS OLD
WIENER, JACQUES L (JR) Born 1934
KING, CAROLYN DINEEN Born 1938
JOLLY, E. GRADY Born 1937
DENNIS, JAMES L Born 1936 (active)
DAVIS, W. EUGENE Born 1936
HIGGINBOTHAM, PATRICK E Born 1938
DUHE, JOHN M 1933 pic.twitter.com/40f1isYsng— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) March 14, 2021
“These incidents demonstrated the increasing threat to our courthouses and their occupants,” McKeague said. “Our security needs require urgent attention to ensure that these types of things don’t happen again.”
With regard to judgeships, the recommendations approved today by the Judicial Conference would ask Congress to create two new court of appeals judgeships and 77 new district judgeships. The Conference also requested that nine temporary district judgeships be converted to permanent status.
Congress last enacted a comprehensive bill to increase the number of appellate and district judgeships in 1990. A total of 34 district court judgeships were created between 1999 and 2003 as part of other legislation, mostly appropriations bills. No new court of appeals judgeships have been created in more than 30 years.
Since the last omnibus judgeship bill was enacted, the caseload in the district courts had risen 47 percent (civil cases were up 41 percent and criminal filings rose 72 percent) by the end of fiscal year 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact filings. As of fiscal year 2020, filings in the courts of appeals had risen 12 percent since 1990.
Even with the decline in district court filings due to the pandemic, in fiscal year 2020, weighted filings were above 500 per judgeship in 17 of the 26 courts in which the Conference is recommending additional judgeships or the conversion of existing temporary judgeships to permanent status. Weighted case filings are a measure that the Judiciary uses to account for the varying level of resources cases require.
Weighted case filings exceeded 600 per judgeship in 14 of these courts, 700 per judgeship in six courts, and 900 per judgeship in two courts.
The 26-member Judicial Conference (pdf) is the policy-making body for the federal court system. By statute, the Chief Justice of the United States serves as its presiding officer and its members are the chief judges of the 13 courts of appeals, a district judge from each of the 12 geographic circuits, and the chief judge of the Court of International Trade.
The Conference convenes twice a year to consider administrative and policy issues affecting the court system, and to make recommendations to Congress concerning legislation involving the Judicial Branch. The Conference conducted its regularly scheduled biannual meeting today by teleconference due to travel limitations because of the pandemic.
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