Accountability and Resource Management – Annual Report 2024

Risk-Based Management and Decision Making

The Enterprise Risk Management Program reflects best practices used in the federal government and private sector. The program identifies the top risks facing the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) and is designed to ensure that both external and internal risks are analyzed, addressed, and monitored by the AO’s leadership team. During 2024, the program completed its annual risk profile identifying the top risks facing the AO. 

Strengthening Financial Management 

After launching the program in 2023, the AO made advances in a major effort to upgrade the Judiciary’s budget, accounting, and acquisition system. The project will strengthen the Judiciary’s cybersecurity posture and provide a platform to implement financial management best practices and to comply with statutory and regulatory requirements. The updated system will support the Judiciary’s financial management initiatives, including future capabilities to produce consolidated annual financial statements. 

The Judiciary released its first Annual Report on the Judiciary Workplace in 2024, detailing the policies and procedures that ensure Judiciary employees are protected from wrongful conduct and that they have access to effective measures to seek redress for their concerns when issues arise.

All federal courts have in place an employment dispute resolution plan that provides employees multiple pathways to report and address workplace concerns, the report said. The report found that an increasing number of employees are opting to use the new processes, which were implemented in 2019.

“The Judiciary is committed to ensuring that employees are treated with dignity and respect, and enjoy a workplace free from discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and abusive conduct,” wrote Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO), in the report’s opening message.

Highlights in the report included the following:

• As of 2024, all federal courts had adopted and implemented an employment dispute resolution (EDR) plan consistent with the Judiciary’s Model EDR plan, approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States in 2019. Every employee has a menu of options for redressing workplace misconduct – informal advice, assisted resolution, and the filing of a formal complaint.
• There are trained professionals at the national, circuit, and local court levels who can provide confidential advice to employees with workplace concerns. In addition to the national Office of Judicial Integrity, each circuit now has a Director of Workplace Relations (DWRs). The DWRs have experience working in the federal or state courts and a number of them have backgrounds in employment law.
• To increase transparency, the Judiciary tracks and publishes the number of Judicial Conduct and Disability (JC&D) complaints filed by Judiciary employees. The numbers show that employee JC&D complaints against judges are rare. In fiscal year 2021, 11 of 1,300 complainants in JC&D matters were Judiciary employees. The following fiscal year, just one of 1,533 JC&D complaints was brought by a Judiciary employee. In fiscal year 2023, the number was three. (The data reflects the fact that the vast majority of JC&D complaints are filed by litigants and prisoners challenging a judge’s decision and are unrelated to the Judiciary workplace.)
• More than 40 percent of EDR matters concluded between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 were resolved through mutual agreement or settlement, an indication that the Judiciary is making progress toward its goal of addressing concerns quickly and early, without the need for adversarial proceedings.
• The number of employees availing themselves of the new avenues increased. In fiscal year 2023, there were 94 active EDR matters across the Judiciary, a substantial increase over the 53 EDR matters in fiscal year 2021. Even though this number still represents a small fraction of Judiciary employees, the increase suggests that the new options for employees are gaining acceptance.

The annual report was the first of its kind published by the AO’s Office of Judicial Integrity. It was done in response to a recommendation from the Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group, an internal group made up of judges and Judiciary executives created at the direction of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in 2018.

Also in 2024, two outside entities reported the findings of their evaluations of the Judiciary’s changes to its workplace processes and procedures – the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and a joint research team from the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). Both reports found that significant aspects of the system were working well and validated the Judiciary’s overall approach.

The FJC/NAPA study found that “the three processes for dealing with possible misconduct are working well.” The GAO found that the Judiciary’s practices largely align with those recommended by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Both reports also made recommendations for further refinements to workplace processes, which the Working Group began studying in 2024.

Government Accountability Office Studies

The GAO regularly conducts studies related to Judiciary operations. The AO works with Judicial Conference of the United States committees and other stakeholders to ensure full consideration of the agency’s recommendations. In 2024, the AO coordinated the Judiciary’s participation in seven studies:

• A July 2024 report on the Judiciary’s workplace conduct policies and procedures documented efforts since 2017 to prevent and respond to workplace misconduct. The report assessed the Judiciary based on recommended practices from the EEOC and made eight recommendations, including updates to the Model Employee Dispute Resolution Plan, training improvements, the collection of additional data, and metrics to enhance program evaluation.

  The AO is working with the Working Group and the relevant Judicial Conference committees to assess and respond to the GAO’s recommendations.

• A February 2024 report focused on Judiciary actions to identify and protect judges’ personally identifiable information. The study was required by the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2022. In response to the report’s single recommendation, the AO implemented a program evaluation process to inform future program progress.

• An assessment of the 2021 updates to the U.S. Courts Design Guide (Design Guide) was completed. The Design Guide details the Judiciary’s requirements for the design, construction, and renovation of court facilities. 

  The GAO’s report made three recommendations – two focused on process improvements to improve collaboration and a third to reassess the need for increased circulation requirements (the amount of space required for the movement of members of the public, judges, court staff, and prisoners). The Judiciary began evaluating the recommendations and remains confident that the 2021 Design Guide established modern and cost-effective design requirements for federal courthouses.

• A study analyzing the effectiveness of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in facilitating the orderly liquidation or reorganization of financial companies. The study, required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, began in September 2024.
• An assessment of U.S. Marshals Service oversight of detention facilities, including interviews with federal defenders. The GAO published a report in July 2024 that did not have recommendations for the Judiciary.
• A study on third-party funding of patent litigation involved interviews with district judges and magistrate judges in selected districts. An informational report was released by the GAO in December without recommendations.
• An update to previous GAO reports on noncitizens incarcerated in the United States. The GAO published an interim report without recommendations in October 2024.