Judges Programs - Annual Report 2009
Judicial workload, supporting international judicial relations, and extensive work on simplifying and modernizing Federal Rules of Evidence were a few of the areas staff focused on during 2009 to support the work of federal judges.
Judge Changes
In fiscal year 2009, the AO processed many changes in judicial status for judges. There were 48 new judges welcomed into the Judiciary this year, including 10 district judges, five bankruptcy judges and 33 magistrate judges. In addition to the 48 new judge appointments, one sitting judge was elevated. Seven circuit judges and 43 district judges took senior status and one circuit judge and six district judges left the Judiciary. In addition, 10 bankruptcy judges and 12 magistrate judges retired. Sadly, 25 judges passed away in fiscal year 2009, including one circuit judge, 14 district judges, three bankruptcy judges, and seven magistrate judges.
Bankruptcy Judgeships
Every two years, the Judicial Conference submits to Congress its recommendation for legislation to ensure adequate bankruptcy judgeships. The 2009 recommendation is based on a national survey conducted by the Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System to determine resource needs. It requests 13 additional bankruptcy judgeships, and also calls for the conversion of 22 temporary judgeships to permanent status and the extension of two existing temporary judgeships.
In June 2009, Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, Chair, Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System, testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law in support of the Judicial Conference’s 2009 bankruptcy judgeship recommendations. Chief Bankruptcy Judge David S. Kennedy, as bankruptcy judge representative to the Judicial Conference, testified in support of the Conference’s recommendations on behalf of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.
New Bankruptcy Workload Study
AO staff is assisting the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) in completing a bankruptcy court workload study. The study will culminate in a new case weight formula to determine the number of bankruptcy judgeships needed in each judicial district. Current factors, e.g., pro se debtors and mega-cases, were factored into the new study, as was additional work required by the 2005 Bankruptcy Act.
Bankruptcy judges recorded their time on different matters for 10 weeks in a “diary study.” FJC and AO staff are analyzing the data results. The Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System will submit its recommendation to the Judicial Conference in 2010, to be available for the 2010 judgeship needs survey cycle.
Intercircuit Assignments
The Committee on Intercircuit Assignments recommended, and the Chief Justice approved, 221 intercircuit assignments for 127 Article III judges, including two retired associate justices. The number of judge vacancies and the need for additional judgeships have created an even more pressing need for visiting judge assistance.
The Committee expanded its efforts to recruit visiting judges to assist overburdened courts. In October 2008, the Committee initiated a Special Work Assistance Taskforce, and in 2009, continued to make presentations at orientations and meetings for judges, and publish articles in several Judiciary publications.
Judges’ Orientation and Outreach Programs
Seventeen new chief judges benefited from orientation sessions addressing court, administrative, and operational matters. A new software program designed to facilitate the graphic display of statistical data was used in fiscal year 2009 to present caseload statistics to incoming chief judges. These presentations allow chief judges to assess quickly how their courts’ data have changed over time on key caseload metrics and how their courts compare to other courts. After a year in their roles, chief judges may participate in the Follow-Up Chief Judge Program, to discuss specific court issues.
AO staff also conducted orientation programs for Article III judge nominees, to inform them on such topics as judicial governance, procurement, chambers staffing, ethics, security, and supplemental benefits.
Financial Disclosure
The Committee on Financial Disclosure and the AO worked to enhance features in the filing software. A self-audit function permits filers to check their report prior to submission and avoid inadvertent errors, further reducing the number of reporting errors requiring communication between the Committee and filers. The Committee also has begun exploring new ways for technology to better serve the Judiciary and the public in the financial disclosure process.
Members of the Committee on Financial Disclosure and AO staff worked to educate judges, judicial assistants, new chief probation officers, and federal public defenders through instructional videos and published articles in several Judiciary publications.
International Judicial Relations
In support of the International Judicial Relations Committee, AO staff coordinated briefings for 55 international delegations, including 470 judges, court administrators, and other officials from 100 countries. United States judges and court administrators participated in some of these briefings. Through the Open World Program at the Library of Congress, AO staff hosted six orientation programs in Washington, D.C. for 152 judges from Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. These judges were then hosted in courts and communities throughout the United States.
AO staff supported the Committee’s work with several executive branch agencies. The chair of the committee spoke at the U.S. Department of Justice’s International Resident Legal Advisor Conference, discussing ways to request assistance from federal judges to support international rule of law efforts. In addition, AO staff supported federal judges invited by the U.S. Department of State to discuss the rule of law in Ukraine and Pakistan, and effective courtroom space and facilities planning in Serbia.
Educational programs for various staff specialists keep the Judiciary workforce informed and current to accomplish their jobs. A summer 2009 workshop was tailored to the needs of judicial assistants and judicial secretaries.
Temporary Emergency Fund
Circuit judicial councils, court executives, and AO staff worked together to manage the Temporary Emergency Fund (TEF), which provides judges with additional chambers staff to assist with unanticipated vacancies or increased caseloads. AO staff communicated with circuit executives, judges, and court employees regarding the allocation, use, and other policies relating to the Fund. AO staff also assisted circuit judicial councils in their requests to the Director for supplemental funding.
Judicial Assistants and Judicial Secretaries
In August, 155 judicial assistants and other chambers staff from appellate, district, territorial, and bankruptcy courts representing each circuit in the federal Judiciary attended the Jumpstart Workshop in Washington, D.C. The agenda was designed in collaboration with veteran judicial assistants. The workshop included presentations on travel regulations, ethics, financial disclosure reporting and public disclosure, personal and courthouse security, non-case related reports, chambers and case management, and electronic case filing.
Law Clerk Assistance Program
The Law Clerk Assistance Program (LCAP) remains a practical way for a judge to assign legal research and writing tasks electronically to a federal law clerk in another court with the lending judge’s permission. Similar to intercircuit assignments for judges, LCAP promotes the sharing of existing law clerk talent, which has become increasingly necessary as caseloads increase but the number of judgeships does not. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) web technology allows judges and chambers staff to communicate new assistance requests.
The Law Clerk Assistance Program shares law clerk services electronically, based on changing work requirements.
New Time Counting Rules
The Judicial Conference Rules Committees approved over 90 amendments to the various Federal Rules of Procedure that simplify and make consistent the method for computing time periods under the rules. The new rules count all days, no longer excluding weekends and holidays. In addition, most deadlines in the rules were amended to be expressed in multiples of seven days, and virtually all short deadlines were extended to account for the new time-counting provisions. Following Supreme Court approval in March, the amendments took effect on December 1, 2009.
The “Statutory Time-Periods Technical Amendments Act of 2009” (Pub. L. No. 111-16), changed critical, often-used time periods in 28 statutory provisions. The changes are consistent with the changes to the national rules and also took effect on December 1, 2009. Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, chair of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, and AO staff played vital roles in securing passage of the legislation.
Finally, Judge Rosenthal advised all chief judges that the national rules amendments affect time deadlines in local rules. As a result, many local rule time deadlines were adjusted, and amendments to local rules were implemented on December 1, 2009.
Rewriting the Federal Rules of Evidence
The Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules, with support from AO staff, rewrote the entire Federal Rules of Evidence in plain English to clarify, simplify, and modernize them. The six-month public comment period ends on February 16, 2010. The project is modeled on previous successful restyling of other federal rules: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective in 2007; the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, effective in 2002; and the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, effective in 1998.
Changes to Bankruptcy Rules and Forms
Under the direction of the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, several Official Bankruptcy Forms and Director’s Procedural Forms have been amended, effective December 1, 2009. Many of the changes relate to the overall revision of the time-computation methodology, as 39 bankruptcy rules, one official bankruptcy form, and five procedural forms were amended to conform to the new template.
Non-time-period amendments to several Bankruptcy Rules and forms also were effective on December 1, 2009. In addition, proposed amendments to five bankruptcy rules, two proposed new rules, and proposed amendments to three Official Forms were published in 2009 for comment.
Magistrate Judge Reporting
Most district courts are now reporting magistrate judges workload statistics using Magistrate Judge Statistics Through Automated Records (MJSTAR), the automated reporting function in the CM/ECF system. The goal of MJSTAR is to improve the consistency and reliability of magistrate judge statistical information nationwide by minimizing manual entry of data and standardizing data collection methods throughout the courts. As of January 1, 2010, 79 district courts were “live” on MJSTAR. AO staff have worked closely with magistrate judges and court staff to have all courts live on MJSTAR in the coming year.
International Prisoner Transfer Program
As provided by statute, magistrate judges conduct proceedings to verify a convicted offender’s voluntary consent to transfer to the country of which he or she is a citizen to serve the remainder of his or her sentence pursuant to a prisoner transfer treaty. In FY 2009, magistrate judges conducted consent verification proceedings in Mexico, Korea, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Canada, Japan, and Spain.
Statistical Modernization
The AO has undertaken a multi-year effort to capture, analyze, and report on additional aspects of case activity that might more fully represent the courts’ workload. An enhanced information system for the bankruptcy courts is nearly complete, and AO staff are capturing and reviewing new case-event data for possible use in judgeship surveys and for other purposes. A companion project has been launched to gather better information on district court caseloads. Another project involves developing policies and procedures to gather test data or respond to one-time requests for information from the courts about pending legislation or proposed rule changes. The policies address privacy concerns, court notification, and data dissemination practices.
Streamlined Statistical Reporting
The New Streamline Timely Access to Statistics (NewSTATS) project continues to replace the components of the legacy system that collect, process, and report caseload data. In June 2009, the AO deployed a NewSTATS software release including legacy reports on the bankruptcy caseload and all new reports requested by the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System. Current efforts address the migration of data and reporting functionality for Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) reports to the new software. In April 2010, NewSTATS will become the statistical system of record for CJRA reports.
Working with a group of court staff volunteers knowledgeable about the CM/ECF system, AO staff also coordinated extensive revisions of two guides used by the district courts, Civil Statistical Guide and Criminal Statistical Guide, to describe new CM/ECF processes and clarify other reporting procedures. Two groups of court staff volunteers reviewed and commented on draft versions of these guides. Final versions of the revised guides have been posted on the J-Net, the Judiciary’s intranet.