Judiciary News

An innovative U.S. courts program has students serving as federal judges in courtrooms to experience what it is like to make difficult sentencing decisions — involving their own peers.

Four Supreme Court Fellows have begun their 2015-2016 fellowships in the federal Judiciary. The Supreme Court Fellows Program was created in 1973 by the late Chief Justice Warren E. Burger to provide individuals with a first-hand understanding of the federal government, in particular, the judicial branch.

When litigants come to federal court without a lawyer, they are at a disadvantage. Even if their case is strong, they can easily get lost in a maze of procedural rules and arcane terminology. A single error can doom their chances, long before a trial date is set. In the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, that is changing. Since late March, an innovative program has provided critical legal help to more than 150 low-income pro se litigants—people who must, usually for financial reasons, file or defend a civil lawsuit without a lawyer.

The tales of how two criminal offenders successfully returned to society after years in federal prison are at the heart of a new U.S. Courts video, in which a U.S. District judge, a federal probation services official and a probation officer based in Wisconsin discuss how courts help former offenders become law-abiding citizens.

A recent report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission looks at the relatively rare sentence of life imprisonment in the federal justice system.

The memories of three legendary federal judges, who overcame deep-seated southern resistance to end segregation for millions of African Americans, were honored recently when the courthouses named after them were declared national historic landmarks.   

The last week of July, Gregg Miller traveled from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ Washington, DC office to Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands for planning meetings on a local courthouse project. He was just in time to ride out in his hotel his first typhoon.

An unusual partnership between the U.S. Courts and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has given 40 school teachers a close-up look at how the law and a healthy economy are interrelated.

Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2015, fell 12 percent when compared to bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2014, according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. 

The National Training Academy, credited with giving a “national identity” to the Judiciary’s 5,000 probation and pretrial services officers, has grown dramatically since it opened 10 years ago, according to a newly released U.S. Courts video.

Bankruptcy petitions filed by individuals with consumer debt were down in 2014 when compared with 2013; more individuals filed for bankruptcy protection under plans that included installment payments to creditors; and for more individuals, this wasn’t the first time they’d filed for bankruptcy in the last 8 years. 

As they enter their mid- to late-sixties, many in the U.S. workforce will look forward to retirement and the pursuit of other interests. When Judges Edward McManus and Don O’Brien in the Northern District of Iowa reached the ages of 65 and 69, respectively, they took senior status. But unlike the general workforce, they didn’t retire. Decades later, they’re still on the job.

Ten years and approximately 9,000 clerkship position postings ago, the federal Judiciary launched the Online System for Clerkship Applications and Review, or OSCAR. The information and application system created a transparent online law clerk hiring process for applicants and law schools, while giving federal judges a way to communicate their hiring practices and timelines.

The number of federal and state wiretaps authorized in 2014 decreased 1 percent from 2013. The most serious offense under investigation in 89 percent of all applications for intercepts was illegal drugs.

A recent public symposium celebrated 50 years of the Criminal Justice Act with panels on the challenges, choices and commitments of federal defense efforts, and what can be learned from effective defense practices outside the United States.