Judiciary News

The first of a series of public hearings, conducted as part of a comprehensive and impartial review of the Criminal Justice Act, will take place November 16-17, 2015, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and can be seen live via online video.

Recent news reports have focused on the thousands of federal inmates released from federal prison on an expedited basis due to changes in drug sentencing laws. For the past 90 years it has been the responsibility of federal probation officers to both supervise offenders released into the community and assure the community remains safe.

This fall the federal court in the Central District of California supported the National Preparedness campaign with three Emergency Preparedness Fairs that reached over 400 federal employees and members of the public in three district divisions.

New American citizens from 24 countries were welcomed by the entire judiciary of the Eastern District of New York, in a special ceremony honoring the 150th anniversary of the court’s first naturalization.

Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for the fiscal year 2015—the 12-month period ending September 30, 2015—totaled 860,182, down 11 percent from the 963,739 bankruptcy filings in FY 2014, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. This is the lowest number of bankruptcy filings for any 12-month period since 2007, and the fifth consecutive fiscal year filings have fallen.

Making a stately federal courthouse seem warm and welcoming to the public can be a challenge. In the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, a strong interest in art has led to a rotating schedule of art exhibits that has brightened a space once austere and cold, while increasing public visits to the courthouse.

A sophisticated phone scam is targeting bankruptcy filers in several states, using personal information from filings and posing as attorneys to get intended victims to immediately wire money to satisfy a debt. 

The remarkable resurrection of a once-forgotten judge’s civil rights legacy was completed Oct. 2, when U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and former Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings joined the Judiciary in renaming the Hollings Judicial Center in Charleston, South Carolina, the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Edward Leavy is the recipient of the 2015 Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award.

A U.S. Courts video features the Judiciary’s annual honoring of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, depicting many of the more than 50 naturalization ceremonies conducted by federal courts across the country.

Six new chairs of Judicial Conference committees have been named by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., with terms beginning October 1, 2015. 

Federal courts have greatly improved their response to natural disasters in the last decade, according to a new U.S. Courts video, released in observance of National Preparedness Month. The video details lessons from four weather emergencies that shut down federal courthouses. 

The Judicial Conference of the United States today adopted amended rules for Judicial Conduct and Disability proceedings that provide for greater transparency and also approved an updated Strategic Plan for the Federal Judiciary.

Students will participate in naturalization ceremonies across the nation throughout September as part of a living civics lesson on citizenship. Federal courts are conducting more than 50 naturalization ceremonies in September to observe Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, which is officially celebrated on September 17.

The federal courts of appeal can help Congress make legislative intent as clear as possible through a project designed by the non-partisan Governance Institute and adopted by the Judicial Conference in 1995, on the recommendation of its Judicial Branch Committee.