Table Of ContentY
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
OF THE U.S. COURTS
2000 Report of the Director
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Producedb y
OffofPi ublcic eAffa irs
AdminisOffticer ofat hte Ui.Sv. Ceour ts
Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building
Washington, D.C. 20544
Phone: (202) 502-2600
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IN PROFILE: The Administrative Office vove2e5 uet“* y4” e.”
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wese nactedt hatw lp rovide oddtionole soues fot hc ourtso ndf lyn di mproved si
ingl evels.F unding willb eav oiloble tob uilds orely needed newc ourthouses. Judges willr e-
\ ceive thec ost-of-living increase theyh ave been
promised, butf ort ooo ften denied. Ten new district
“As key decisions were being made, the
Administrative Office made certain the Judiciary’s court judgewsilhlb iecp resate d. Resourcwielslb e
voice was heard. In 2000, the achievements were directed tot he Southwest border courts toh elpa d-
numerous and significant.” dress theirc aseload explosion.
Ne
4
Throughout my tenure as Administra- sources, there is much we can accomplish on
tive Office Director | have been involved daily our own. In 2000, the achievements were nu-
in promoting the Judicial Conference's legis- merous and significant.
lative agenda. | regularly meet in person, talk The Case Management/Electronic
by phone, and communicate by letter with Case Files system being developed to replace
members of Congress and their staff. While | current federal court docketing and case
believe this is the right focus for my energies, management systems is an exciting under-
this year a bit more effort was required by taking that will revolutionize the way the
many to achieve the successes we did. courts conduct their business. While this
While the Judiciary depends on the project made great progress this year, we also
legislative and executive branches for re- are mindful that rapidly advancing technol-
ogy and personal privacy rights must be Conference actions and for constantly ex-
compatible, The Administrative Office is ploring ways for Judiciary programs to run
working closely with the relevant Judicial more eitectively and efficiently, As a result,
Conference committees to carefully study the agency is involved with studies of law
and address this issue. books and libraries, court security, proba-
Reacting to requests from judges, the tion and pretrial services, information tech-
Administrative Office built the Federal Law nology, and Judiciary employee training.
Clerk Information System, a national data- Recognizing that the men and
base to match interested judges with poien- women who work in the courts are respon-
tial law clerks. The Electronic Public Access sible for ine Third Branch’s outstanding
program expanded this year to provide ac- reputation, we continue to explore appro-
cess to information from more than 100 priate ways to recognize this excellence.
courts through the Internet. The Administra- This year the Administrative Office began
tive Office has turned to theJ udiciary's work on a commuter benefits program,
intranet, theJ -Net, to place important infor- which in 2001 will allow judges and judi-
mation in the hands of those in the courts cial employees to pay a fixed amount of
who most need it, achieving savings by public transportation and parking costs per
eliminating certain paper documents and month on a pretax basis. We have provided
mailings. An increasing number of court- the funds to place automated external
rooms are using video evidence presentation defibrillators in 400 court locations. These
systems, videoconferencing, and electronic small semi-automatic voice-prompted de-
means of taking the record. The Administra- vices deliver an electric shock to a person
tive Office developed and distributed a court- experiencing cardiac arrest. The Judiciary is
room technology guide to courts to support a government leader in making this life-
this effort. saving device available.
~
In its second year of operation, the
Federal Judicial Television Network reached
“Support of the Judicial Conference
280 court viewing sites, providing thousands
of court employees with easy access to train- and its committees remains an
ing and other information. Since the
essential function of the
network's inception, the Administrative Of-
fice has broadcast more than 110 different Administrative Office.”
courses. The network also has been used suc- Ne
cessfully for educational and community
outreach programs, which bring high-school A year ago we were awaiting the Y2K
students into courthouses throughout the crisis, which, thanks to the hard work of
country to learn more about the Judiciary. many, never materialized. While no similar
The Administrative Office continues to “crisis” looms on the horizon, 2001 is cer-
provide administrative support, program tain to bring mariy unexpected challenges
management, and policy development assis- to the judicial branch. Fortunately, some is-
tance to federal courts nationwide. Support sues recur, and others have been high-
of theJ udicial Conference and iis commit- lighted by theJ udicial Conference and Ad-
tees remains an essential function of the Ad- ministrative Office long-range planning
ministrative Office. Each committee has Ad- processes. Strategies are being developed
ministrative Office staff experts who work and employees mobilized to tackle the
closely with it in conducting research and pressing needs of the coming year.
drafting agenda items. The Administrative The Administrative Office will con-
Office also has responsibility for carrying out tinue to present the Judicial Conference's
legislative agenda to Congress, We will con- traordinary needs of these five district courts.
tinue to publicize the growing pay disparity This list will grow by the day, and so will the
between federal judges and attorneys in the energy and commitment of the Administra-
private sector, We will press for passage of the tive Office.
Federal Courts Budget Protection Act, which This year marked my fifteenth as Di-
was considered but not enacted by the 106" rector of the Administrative Office. When |
Congress, This legislation will assure that arrived, memos were laboriously prepared on
the Judiciary’s annual budget request is sub- typewriters, copied on mimeograph ma-
mitted directly to Congress by the President, chines, and sent to court officials. Today,
unchanged, as required by law. The ten they are broadcast electronically. The budget
judgeships created this year by an appropria- of theJ udicial Branch was just over a quarter
tions bill are not enough. An omnibus judge- of what it is today, as was the number of
ship bill is needed, and long overdue. No new drug-related cases handled by the district
bankruptcy judgeships have been created courts. The changes in the volume of court
since 1992, even though filings have jumped business and the way it is carried out are
several hundred thousand since then. New vast. However, the mission and responsibili-
courthouses are needed, and they must be ties of the courts and the Administrative Of-
built so as to provide each active judge with fice have remained steady. In fact, it has be-
a courtroom. With more than a quarter of come an annual rite in the Administrative Of-
the federal criminal filings occurring in the fice to re-pledge our commitment to providing
Southwest border courts, we will continue to the best service possible to the courts and pub-
push for increased resources to meet the ex- lic. Expect more oft he samei n2 001!
enges
‘Achievements an
As the new century began, federal courts were facing record levels of work and a challenging budget environment. Administrative Office
managers and steff focused on helping courts use effective technologies and develop innovative case-processing measures. They provided
guidance and support necessary for
courts to continue to discharge their
duties effectively and efficiently,
supported the Judicial Conference
of the United States and its com-
mittees, helped obtain necessary
resources from Congress, and con-
tinuously looked for ways to im-
prove the quality of services, man-
age Judiciary programs better, and
economize.
This report describes the re-
sults of the agency's efforts.
Congressional Relations
Representing the Judiciary
One of the major ways Administrative The second session of the 106" Con-
Office staff support the Judicial Conference gress continued to consider a wide range of
and its committees is by identifving and issues of importance to the Judiciary. Several
monitoring legislation that could have an chairs ofJ udicial Conference committees
impact on the federal Judiciary. They help and other Conference representatives testi-
articulate Judicial Conference policies to fied at congressional committee hearings
Congress and provide information on bills during 2000. They typically advocated the
regarding the organization and operation of passage of bills containing proposals of the
iederal courts, jurisdiction, appropriations, Conference or explained why it opposed leg-
courthouse construction and maintenance, islation that could adversely affect the Judi-
and other topics affecting the Judiciary. They ciary
also prepare draft testimony, coordinate re- The 106" Congress ended with the
sponses to inquiries from Congress, and meet passage of the final appropriations bills,
regularly with House and Senate members which included several successes for the Ju-
and staff. diciary. The Commerce, Justice, State, the Ju-
diciary and Related
Agencies appropria-
tions bill contained
the Judiciary’s budget,
which among other
things, cleared the way
for a cost-of-living ad-
justment for judges
and created 10 new Ar-
ticle II judgeships.
The Treasury, Postal
Service and General
Government appro-
priations bill included
$559 million for eight
new courthouses. Con-
gress also passed the Federal Courts Im- all funding was due mainly to the extraor-
provement Act of 2000. dinary effort of the Judicial Conference
Committee on the Budget, other judges, Di-
Fiscal Year 2000 Budget. |'0r the first rector Mecham, and Administrative Office
two months of fiscal year 2000, the Judiciary staff.
was funded through a series of continuing
resolutions. On November 29, 1999, the Con- Fiscal Year 2001. Because the Judiciary’s
solidated Appropriations Act was enacted. appropriations bill is included with the De-
This act, which included the CommerceJ,us - partments of Commerce, Justice, State, and
tice, State and the Judiciary appropriations other federal agencies, the Judiciary's bud-
bill, provided $3.95 billion for the entire ju- get was delayed again in 2000 because of
dicial branch for fiscal year 2000. This level policy differences between Congress and the
of funding provided the Judiciary with a 9 President. However, under the leadership of
percent increase over fis- the Judicial Conference
cal year 1999 spending. In us
addition, the bill alsoin- = j% ia , 89 Sa ‘est,
¥ - oe ee = Ao
cluded language creating
nine additional district
judgeships as well as a
provision that authorizes
the Director of the Admin-
istrative Office to use ap-
propriated funds to pay for
any increases in the cost 4
of Federal Employees’ a
Group Life Insurance ‘Wa eg By 4 Pig
ay Ao! (Ae
(FEGLI) imposed on senior Article II1 ] judges Committee on the Budget, chaired byJ udge
after Apri! 24, 1999. Also included in the bill John G. Heyburn II, and Director Mecham,
was a $5 increase in panel attorney hourly the Judiciary fared well in the Judiciary’s fis-
rates “his was only the second time in 15 cal year 2001 appropriations bill, which al-
years that an increase had been provided. though passed by Congress in October, was
The receipt of such a large increase in over- not forwarded to the President until mid-
December when it was enacted. The bill au- courtroom sharing issue was reviewed in an
thorized 10 new judgeships, provided a 2.7 Ernst & Young report that was completed un-
percent cost-of-living raise for judges, and der an Administrative Office contract and
for the first time in three years provided the transmitted to Congress by the Director. The
Judiciary with significant funds to hire new report recommended no change to the Judi-
staff and fully implemented new court staff- cial Conference policy of one courtroom for
ing formulas. every active district judge. All judges with
courthouse projects, Director Mecham, and
Administrative Office staff worked with
members of Congress to gain support.
Congress did not approve OMB's pro-
posal for courtroom sharing. The Senate au-
thorizing committee approved all 17 projects
proposed by GSA at full funding levels. The
House authorizing committee approved all
but one of the projects, with most at full
funding, but slightly reduced a few projects
to eliminate any modifications from the U.S.
Courts Design Guide. The total funds ap-
propriated, however, did not cover all of the
projects that were authorized. The final ap-
propriations bill provided funds in fiscal year
2001 for only the top four projects on the
Judiciary’s prioritized plan (Los Angeles,
California; Seattle, Washington; Richmond,
Virginia; and Gulfport, Mississippi). It also
provided funding to be available in fiscal year
2002 for four more projects (Washington,
D.C.; Buffalo, New York; Springfield, Massa-
Courthouse Construction. for the first chusetts; and Miami, Florida). Congress ap-
time in four years, the President included a propriated funds for 11 courthouse repair and
request to fund a portion of the Judiciary’s alteration projects in fiscal year 2001.
courthouse construction program in the uni-
fied budget proposal submitted to Congress Judicial Operations & Jurisdiction.
for fiscal year 2001. The request, however, In the closing days of the 106" Congress,
was to fund only eight of the 17 courthouse both houses passed an amended version of
projects recommended by the General Ser- the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 2000.
vices Administration (GSA) at a lower fund- On November 13, 2000, the President signed
ing level than GSA’s estimates. the act, which includes numerous provisions
Judge Jane Roth, chair of the Judicial enhancing the Judiciary’s effectiveness and
Conference Committee on Security and Fa- efficiency. Among other things, the act
cilities, met with congressional leaders and ¢ Amends the contempt authority of magis-
testified before both the House and Senate trate judges and the petty consent require-
authorizing subcommittees and a House Ap- ment of cases before them.
propriations subcommittee to urge full fund- ¢ Authorizes the Judicial Conference to es-
ing of all courthouse projects with adherence tablish magistrate judge positions in the
to Judicial Conference policy of one court- district courts of Guam and the Northern
room for every active district judge. The Mariana Islands.
