U.S. District Courts — Judicial Business 2022
Combined filings of civil cases and criminal defendants in the U.S. district courts fell 18 percent to 343,253 in 2022.
Civil case filings decreased 20 percent to 274,771, while criminal defendant filings—including defendants transferred from other districts—declined 8 percent to 68,482. Overall terminations for civil cases and criminal defendants increased 13 percent to 380,422 (this total does not include the 28,337 defendants in Class A misdemeanor cases and petty offense cases disposed of by magistrate judges). The total number of pending civil cases and criminal defendants dropped 5 percent to 718,948.
Civil Filings
Civil case filings in the U.S. district courts declined 20 percent, decreasing by 69,796 cases to 274,771. Civil filings per authorized judgeship fell from 509 in 2021 to 406 in 2022. This reduction stems from a drop of 59 percent to 34,410 in multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases directly filed in a single district that asserted that the 3M Company sold its Combat Arms earplugs to the U.S. military without disclosing defects that reduced hearing protection (filings of these MDL cases had totaled more than 200,000 in 2020, then began decreasing in 2021). Excluding these MDL cases, civil filings would have fallen 8 percent.
Filings of diversity of citizenship cases (i.e., disputes between citizens of different states) dropped 37 percent (down 61,636 cases) to 105,212 as personal injury case filings declined 48 percent to 70,933. The Northern District of Florida (FL-N) had a 59 percent reduction (down 49,243 cases to 34,520) in personal injury filings as it received fewer cases addressing 3M Company earplugs. Personal injury filings declined by 15,327 to 4,161 in the District of New Jersey (down 79 percent) and declined by 1,797 cases to 3,568 in the Southern District of Ohio (down 33 percent).
Filings with the United States as plaintiff fell 13 percent (down 418 cases) to 2,839, mainly due to an 18 percent decrease (down 209 cases to 925) in cases involving forfeiture and penalty actions. This reduction stemmed largely from a 30 percent drop in drug-related seizure of property cases (down 183 to 431). The largest decrease in such filings occurred in the Central District of California (CA-C), which reported a decline of 85 percent (down 60 cases to 11).
Filings with the United States as defendant fell 9 percent (down 3,636 to 35,589). Prisoner petitions decreased 10 percent (down 914 petitions to 7,811) as motions for writs of habeas corpus by alien detainees fell 66 percent (down 637 petitions to 327). The largest reduction occurred in the Western District of Louisiana, where petitions dropped by 78 to 13. Social Security filings went down 31 percent (down 6,143 cases to 13,370) as cases involving disability insurance fell 33 percent (down 3,579 cases to 7,108). Immigration cases, including those addressing naturalization applications and other immigration actions, rose 69 percent (up 3,158 cases to 7,735). The Eastern District of New York (NY-E) had the largest numeric growth in other immigration actions (up 941 cases to 1,690), followed by CA-C (up 664 cases to 1,059).
Federal question cases (i.e., actions under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States in which the United States is not a party in the case) decreased 3 percent to 131,131. Civil rights cases went down 10 percent (down 4,080 cases to 35,279) as cases related to employment fell 16 percent (down 1,532 cases to 7,761). The largest reduction occurred in the Southern District of New York, where employment cases decreased 23 percent to 373. Cases in the category of Americans with Disabilities Act-other declined 18 percent (down 2,301 cases to 10,179), with the largest reduction occurring in the Central District of California, which reported 45 percent fewer filings (down 1,665 cases to 2,018). Intellectual property rights cases, including those addressing copyright, grew 10 percent (up 1,141 cases to 12,663). Cases related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) rose 19 percent (up 111 cases to 685). The largest growth in such filings occurred in NY-E, which reported an increase of 37 percent (up 25 cases to 93).
Civil case terminations grew 14 percent (up 36,701 terminations) to 308,326. In FL-N, 58,577 cases were terminated (up 42,839 terminations), many of them MDL cases dealing with 3M Company earplugs. The Northern District of Texas (TX-N) had 10,540 terminations (up 2,215 terminations), mostly of MDL cases concerning Pinnacle hip implant products. In the Northern District of Illinois, terminations went down by 3,102 to 7,911, primarily from the closing of fewer MDL cases concerning testosterone replacement therapy products.
The median time from filing to disposition for civil cases was 11.5 months, up from 8.5 months in 2021. The median time in the Eastern District of Louisiana increased from 24.9 months in 2021 to 69.4 months in 2022, a year after that district terminated MDL cases related to the drug Xarelto. In TX-N, the median time grew from 19.4 months to 56.0 months a year after that district terminated MDL cases addressing Pinnacle hip implant products.
As case terminations outnumbered filings, pending civil cases dropped 5 percent to 596,136. Most of the reduction occurred in cases in the category of personal injury/product liability-other in FL-N, where the pending caseload percent declined 8 percent to 252,014 because of MDL cases addressing 3M Company earplugs.
Since 2018, civil case filings in the district courts have declined 3 percent (down 8,165 cases). Decreases have occurred in cases involving prisoner petitions, social security, labor laws, real property, civil rights, and environment cases. During that period, district courts have reported more filings related to tort actions, personal injuries, immigration, contract actions, securities, commodities and exchange, and banks and banking.
For data on civil filings in the U.S. district courts, see Table 3, Table 4, and the C series of tables.
Criminal Filings
Filings for criminal defendants (including defendants transferred from other districts) decreased 8 percent to 68,482. Filings dropped in 64 of 94 districts and rose in 30 districts.
The highest percentage reductions occurred in filings for defendants charged with crimes related to marijuana, which went down 22 percent to 1,207 filings, and filings for defendants charged with regulatory system offenses, which went down 16 percent to 1,201 filings.
Filings for defendants charged with drug crimes fell 15 percent to 19,589 and constituted 29 percent of all defendant filings, down from 31 percent last year. Filings for defendants charged with crimes related to marijuana decreased 22 percent to 1,207, and filings for non-marijuana drug defendants fell 15 percent to 18,382. Filings related to the sale, distribution, or dispensing of illegal drugs dropped 17 percent to 815 for marijuana and dropped 12 percent to 15,985 for all other drugs.
Defendants accused of immigration offenses held relatively steady, declining less than 1 percent to 19,148 and accounting for 28 percent of total criminal filings. Defendants charged with improper entry by an alien decreased 32 percent to 75, and those charged with improper reentry by an alien increased nearly 1 percent to 13,821. Immigration filings in the five southwestern border districts fell 2 percent to 16,849 and equaled 88 percent of national immigration defendant filings (down from 89 percent in 2021). Filings grew 42 percent in the District of New Mexico, 13 percent in Southern District of California, 12 percent in the Western District of Texas, and nearly 1 percent in the District of Arizona. However, these gains were offset by a 22 percent decrease in the Southern District of Texas.
Defendants charged with justice system offenses dropped 15 percent to 772, and filings for defendants charged with fraud, which equaled 8 percent of total filings and 78 percent of property offense filings, decreased 11 percent to 5,732. Defendants accused of general offenses declined 9 percent and equaled 2 percent of total criminal filings. Defendants prosecuted for sex offenses went down 7 percent, and those prosecuted for firearms and explosives offenses went down 9 percent.
Defendant filings related to traffic offenses surged 60 percent to 1,990.
Terminations for defendants (including defendants transferred to other districts) increased 13 percent to 72,096. Excluding defendants transferred to other districts, terminations were reported for 71,954 defendants, of whom 65,763 (91 percent) were convicted, with 64,384 of them pleading guilty. The median time from filing of proceedings to termination for criminal defendants was 10.3 months. The number for defendants pending (excluding fugitives pending more than 12 months before the end of the period) decreased 3 percent to 122,812.
Since 2018, filings for criminal defendants (including transfers) have dropped 21 percent. This decline can be attributed in part to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to a 31 percent reduction in filings associated with immigration offenses. Such filings increased from 2017 to 2019 but have fallen each year thereafter.
For data on criminal defendants in the district courts, see Table 5 and the D series of tables.
Trials Completed
The number of civil and criminal trials completed in the district courts by active and senior Article III judges rose 19 percent to 10,773 (up 1,694 trials). However, this total was below those typically reached before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (which had exceeded 11,000 in recent years). For statistical purposes, district court trials include proceedings resulting in jury verdicts and other final judgments by the courts, as well as other contested hearings at which evidence is presented.
Total civil trials climbed 24 percent (up 669 trials) to 3,502. Seventy districts reported more civil trials. Civil non-jury trials grew by 45 trials to 2,139, with 45 districts reporting increases. Civil jury trials rose 84 percent (up 624 trials) to 1,363, with 76 districts reporting growth.
Total criminal trials increased 16 percent to 7,271 (up 1,025 trials) as 63 district courts reported more criminal trials. Criminal non-jury trials rose 8 percent to 5,459 (up 404 trials), with 45 district courts reporting more of these trials. Criminal jury trials grew 52 percent to 1,812 (up 621 trials) as 70 district courts reported more trials of this type and totals in 6 district courts stayed the same. Article III judges accepted guilty pleas from 61,287 felony defendants, up 12 percent from 54,820 in 2021.
In addition to trials conducted by active and senior Article III judges, 3,547 trials were conducted by magistrate judges, a rise of 8 percent (up 260 trials). These proceedings comprised 176 petty offense trials, 283 civil consent trials, 34 Class A misdemeanor trials, and 3,054 evidentiary hearings.
Judges conduct many other proceedings in courtrooms in addition to trials, including hearings on motions for summary judgment and other motions, calendar calls, preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, hearings on sentencing issues, Daubert hearings on expert witnesses, and evidentiary hearings in supervised release and probation revocation proceedings. Judges also are heavily involved in case management efforts, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) activities, and settlement negotiations and consultations. This year, 61 districts operated ADR programs, with all of these districts conducting mediation or judge-hosted settlement conferences. The ADR programs affected more than 34,200 civil cases.
Since 2018, the total number of trials has fallen 3 percent. Civil trials have decreased 11 percent. Criminal trials have increased 1 percent. Civil and criminal trials lasting four days or longer, which climbed 65 percent this year to 1,975, have risen 5 percent since 2018.
For data on civil and criminal trials conducted by Article III judges, see the T series of tables. For data on matters handled by magistrate judges, see the M series of tables.
Weighted Filings Methodology
The current weights were developed by the Federal Judicial Center in 2016. To calculate weighted filings per authorized judgeship, weighted filings (i.e., the sum of all weights assigned to civil cases, criminal defendants, and supervised release hearings) are divided by the number of authorized Article III judgeships assigned to each district. Weights for criminal proceedings are calculated on a per-defendant basis rather than a per-case basis. Weights are not applied in the district courts for the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, as the district judgeship positions in those courts are filled by term appointments. Weights are assigned only to those cases in district courts that arise as original proceedings, by removal from state court, or by interdistrict transfer or that are directly filed in the same court that is managing a master multidistrict litigation docket (which is known as the transferee court). Cases that stem from reopenings, remands, or transfers by order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation are excluded.
Weighted Filings per Authorized Judgeship
Weighted filings statistics take into account the different amounts of time a judge takes to resolve various types of civil and criminal actions. Weighted filings, which are adjustments to a court’s standard counts of civil and criminal filings, vary based on the mix of cases and the average judge time required to resolve the cases. Case types that on average are more time consuming for district judges to resolve receive weight values greater than 1.00, whereas case types that are less time consuming receive lower weights. For example, in the district court weighted filings system, each antitrust case is weighted as 3.72, and each criminal fraud defendant is weighted as 1.76, but a defaulted student loan case receives a weight of 0.16.
In 2022, weighted filings per authorized judgeship decreased by 94 to 479. Weighted civil case filings, which had decreased 22 percent last year, this year fell 18 percent from 434 to 355; in both years, the reductions occurred primarily because of fewer filings of multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases in a single district. Weighted criminal defendant filings dropped from 135 to 120 (down 11 percent). Weighted supervised release hearings rose from 3.5 to 3.8 (up 9 percent).
Sixty-nine of the 91 districts whose filings received weights reported decreases in total weighted filings. Seven districts had increases of 10 percent or more. Ten districts had 600 or more weighted filings per authorized judgeship. For the district courts, a district judgeship vacancy of any duration in a district with weighted filings per authorized judgeship in excess of 600 is defined as a judicial emergency.
Weighted civil filings fell in 58 districts and increased in 33 districts. Five districts each had reductions of more than 150 weighted civil filings per judgeship because of lower filings of MDL cases: the Northern District of Florida (FL-N), District of New Jersey, Northern District of California, Southern District of Ohio, and Southern District of Indiana. FL-N reported a 59 percent drop in filings in the personal injury/product liability-other category as it received fewer MDL cases addressing 3M Company earplugs.
Weighted criminal filings dropped in 62 districts and rose in 29 districts. The drop in weighted criminal filings stemmed partly from reductions in defendants accused of immigration offenses, property offenses, and drug offenses. Fifty-nine districts reported increases in weighted supervised release hearings, and 32 reported decreases.
Since 2018, unweighted filings (i.e., civil case filings, criminal defendant filings, and supervised release hearings of the types that would qualify to receive case weights) have dropped 8 percent. Unweighted civil filings have decreased 5 percent due to a reduction in real property actions involving condemnation of land cases. Unweighted criminal filings have decreased 21 percent.
For data on weighted filings and unweighted filings per authorized judgeship, see Table X-1A.