Judiciary’s 2022 Annual Report and Statistics Now Available

The Judiciary today reported on the progress made in 2022 in a number of critical areas of court operations, including improved safety and security of judges and staff, the courthouses where they work, and the IT systems relied on by the courts for day-to-day operations.

Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), credited the hard work of judges, court executives, and support staff for the milestones detailed in her Annual Report and Judicial Business statistical accompaniment published today.

“The entire Judiciary family can take pride in the many ways it has preserved and strengthened our independent third branch of government,” she wrote.

Organized in 12 chapters, the report describes the work of the AO and the courts in 2022. In addition to major improvements in safety and security, the Judiciary made strides in greater transparency in financial reporting for judges and in fostering an exemplary workplace that is respectful, diverse, and inclusive.

Many courts returned to pre-pandemic operations as the COVID-19 crisis receded. And the Judiciary made progress in the early phases of the modernization of its digital case management system and the public access portal for court records, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service.

In the accompanying Judicial Business of the United States report, the Judiciary provides statistical tables about federal caseloads by circuit, district, and offense, among other topics. It compares data for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, with data for prior years.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on case filings during the year, with declines across the courts. Total case filings in U.S. district courts fell 18 percent to 343,253. Civil case filings declined 20 percent to 274,771, and criminal filings decreased by 8 percent to 68,482. Petitions filed in the bankruptcy courts declined 12 percent to 383,810. Filings in the courts of appeals fell by 6 percent to 41,839.

The two reports are required by statute and are provided to Congress, the executive branch, the public, and the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal courts policy-making body.