U.S. Judicial Conference Appeals to President for Additional Court Funding

In the wake of several years of flat funding for the judiciary and the sequestration cuts that took effect in fiscal year 2013, the Judicial Conference of the United States recently wrote a letter to President Obama, appealing for additional funding in FY2014.  The Chief Justice of the United States is the presiding officer of the Judicial Conference, and membership is comprised of the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.  See the Judicial Conference website for further information about the U.S. Judicial Conference.  To view the letter to President Obama, click here.  As the letter outlines, the judiciary has already announced new cost-cutting measures in anticipation of continued budget cuts, including reducing attorney compensation for indigent criminal defense.  Fiscal year 2014 begins on October 1, 2013, the deadline for Congress to resolve the budget issue.  See here and here for other articles discussing this topic.  For further information on the federal judiciary and budget issues, consult the 2012 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary prepared by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

(This entry was originally written and posted by Sarah Kammer)