Judicial Conference News Releases

The Judiciary has strengthened its IT defenses against cyberattacks, a meeting of the Judicial Conference of the United States was told on Tuesday. But the threat is growing in scale and sophistication, requiring even greater vigilance against attacks from individuals and unfriendly nations.

The Judicial Conference of the United States has strengthened the policy governing random case assignment, limiting the ability of litigants to effectively choose judges in certain cases by where they file a lawsuit.

The Judicial Conference of the United States on Tuesday approved a change to its broadcast policy that expands the public’s access to civil and bankruptcy proceedings over the Judiciary’s longstanding pre-COVID policy, which prohibited all remote public access to federal court proceedings.

The Judicial Conference of the United States today agreed to recommend to Congress the creation of new district and court of appeals judgeships to meet workload demands in certain courts.

The federal Judiciary’s national policy-making body today agreed to administer regular workplace surveys to its employees and to extend flexibilities for remote public access to certain proceedings when the national emergency ends.

Taking steps to increase transparency and public access, the federal Judiciary’s policy making body today approved automating the release of judges’ financial disclosure reports, amending its conflict screening policy, and expanding the scope of its audio streaming pilot project.

The Judiciary’s policy-making body today recommended that Congress create new judgeships because of a rapid and substantial rise in felony prosecutions in two districts.

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 for courts across the country and initiatives to improve both personal and courthouse security.

“Four federal judges and three family members have been killed since 1979. These horrific tragedies must stop,” Judge David W. McKeague told the Judicial Conference of the United States today.

The Judicial Conference of the United States today convened by teleconference today due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. 

The federal Judiciary’s national policy making body today approved a new model employment dispute resolution (EDR) plan that will simplify and expand the options for addressing wrongful workplace conduct and, in other action, took steps to make electronic access to court records free for more users.  

The federal Judiciary’s national policy-making body today approved a package of workplace conduct-related amendments stating the obligations of judges and Judiciary employees to report reliable information likely to constitute misconduct; making clear that confidentiality obligations should never be an obstacle to reporting judicial misconduct or disability; and specifying that retaliation for disclosing misconduct is itself misconduct.

The Judicial Conference today approved changes to the Judiciary's Model Employment Dispute Resolution (EDR) Plan to cover interns and externs and to extend the time for initiating EDR complaints from 30 to 180 days. The Conference’s Judicial Resources Committee will consider further changes to the model plan at its next meeting. The Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts also reported on the recruitment of a Judicial Integrity Officer in the Administrative Office and the expansion of judicial, staff, and law clerk orientations and education dealing with workplace harassment.

Nearly 20 reforms and improvements have been implemented or are under development to help address workplace conduct concerns in the federal judiciary, James C. Duff, Chair of the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group, reported today at the biannual meeting of the Judicial Conference.

The Judicial Conference of the United States today approved an updated list of courthouse construction priorities and guidelines for portable communications devices in courthouses.