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Funding and Budget – Annual Report 2023

Fiscal Year 2024 Funding Request for the Judiciary

The Judiciary’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 initial budget request to Congress in March 2023 was for $9.1 billion in discretionary appropriations, an 8 percent ($677 million) increase over its FY 2023 appropriation. More than 80 percent of the requested increase was necessary to maintain current operations, including covering inflationary increases and funding a 5.2 percent pay adjustment, the highest federal civilian pay adjustment since 1980. In addition, the request covered new investments in priority areas, such as judicial security protections in an environment of increasing threats to judges, staff, and courthouses, and information technology upgrades to improve cybersecurity protections and modernize the Judiciary’s IT infrastructure.

The FY 2024 appropriations process was highly constrained by commitments made during Congress’ debt ceiling negotiations in May and June, which placed limits on spending. Judiciary funding is included in the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill annually. In July, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved their FY 2024 versions of the bill. The House bill provided the Judiciary with $8.7 billion in discretionary appropriations, a 2.6 percent increase ($223 million) above the FY 2023 enacted level and $454 million below the Judiciary’s FY 2024 request. The Senate bill provided the Judiciary with $8.6 billion in discretionary appropriations, a 1.3 percent increase ($106 million) above the previous year and $571 million below the Judiciary’s request.

None of the 12 annual appropriations bills for FY 2024 were enacted into law before the Oct. 1, 2023, start of the fiscal year. A continuing resolution (CR) was enacted to keep the government operating through Nov. 17, 2023. The CR then was extended through Jan. 19, 2024, for funding for some agencies and through Feb. 2, 2024, for other agencies and for the Judiciary, to allow Congress additional time to complete work on the FY 2024 spending bills.  

After submitting its initial budget request, the Judiciary in November sent Congress a budget re-estimate seeking $8.95 billion in discretionary appropriations, a 5.8 percent ($493 million) increase over FY 2023 and $184 million less than the original request.

In a letter accompanying the revised request, 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, “We are cognizant of the extremely constrained funding environment for FY 2024 and the many competing demands the FSGG subcommittees must balance while working to allocate finite resources within those significant constraints.”

Highlights of the Judiciary’s revised appropriations request included:

• $6.2 billion for the Salaries and Expenses Account that funds the courts’ operating expenses, a 5.3 percent increase ($313 million) over FY 2023. The level of funding would support current services across the courts, cover inflationary cost increases including General Services Administration rent inflation, pay for adjustments to account for changes in projected filing fee collections, and allow for the hiring of additional personnel to address workload increases. Critically, the account funds necessary information technology (IT) requirements, including the FY 2024 portion of the Judiciary’s multi-year cybersecurity and IT modernization plan.
• $1.5 billion for the Defender Services Account, an 8.9 percent ($123 million) increase over FY 2023. The funding level would allow federal defender organizations to fill staff vacancies and critical new positions. The request also would cover the effects of inflation to keep Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorney hourly compensation rates at their statutory maximum levels. (CJA attorneys are private attorneys appointed by the courts to represent defendants without the means to retain counsel.)
• $783.2 million for the Court Security Account, a 4.4 percent ($33 million) increase over FY 2023, to support current services, costs associated with ongoing courthouse construction projects, investments in the modernization and cyclical replacement of security systems, courthouse hardening, and court security officer staffing.
• $50.6 million for the Fees of Jurors and Commissioners Account to support anticipated petit and grand juror costs in FY 2024.

In their letter to members of Congress, Judge St. Eve and AO Director Mauskopf 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 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.”

Fiscal Year 2023 Funding for the Judiciary

In December 2022, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which included FY 2023 funding for the Judiciary. The legislation provided $8.5 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of 5.9 percent ($474 million) over FY 2022.

Highlights of the Judiciary’s financial plan for 2023, which includes fee collections and available balances in addition to appropriated funds:

• $6.7 billion for the Salaries and Expenses Account, which contains court salaries and general operating expenses, including both mandatory and discretionary funds. The plan provided $106 million for a multi-year cybersecurity and IT modernization plan, which included modernization of the eVoucher and Probation and Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking systems and multi-factor authentication implementation.
• $1.5 billion for the Defender Services Account, including inflationary adjustments to panel attorney hourly rates to $210 in capital cases and $164 in non-capital cases, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Both the capital and non-capital hourly rates, which refer to rates paid to private defense attorneys appointed by the courts, were at the statutory maximums. The plan also provided for 29 new federal defender positions and for $9 million in IT infrastructure improvements.
• $822.2 million for the Court Security Account, which included $37.5 million for courthouse hardening to protect court facilities from attempts to disrupt the judicial process. (Congress provided a total of $112.5 million in supplemental funding in FY 2023 for courthouse hardening.) Also included were $493.7 million for court security officers, $87.2 million for Federal Protective Service needs, $169.9 million for security systems and equipment, and $10.5 million for the Vulnerability Management Program, which helps judges and their family members identify active and potential threats to their security.
• $59.6 million for Fees of Jurors and Commissioners Account, allowing the Judiciary to fully fund requirements for the petit juror and grand juror needs for FY 2023.

Strategic Budget Initiative

The Judiciary worked throughout 2023 to develop strategies to limit growth in its budget. The multi-year initiative is designed to mitigate the impact of increasing Judiciary financial requirements that are outpacing congressional funding. The fiscal stewardship effort began in the fall of 2022 with committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Judiciary’s policymaking body, suggesting initiatives for consideration. The Budget Committee, the Judicial Branch Committee, and the nine committees with spending authority, in coordination with the Executive Committee, are involved. Throughout the year, judges on the committees were analyzing information, developing proposals, and soliciting stakeholders’ feedback. The target date for fully developed proposals to be sent to the Judicial Conference for consideration is 2024.