administration of federal courts

The Supreme Court throughout history has figured importantly in administering the federal judicial system, a role involving the Court in legislation, adjudication, and administration. Concern for systemic independence and administrative integrity figured in Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. (1982) rejecting congressional vesting of judicial power in non–Article III judges bereft of tenure and compensation protection. Approved in Wayman v. Southard (1825) and reaffirmed in Mistretta v. United States (1989) have been congressional delegations of administrative and rule‐making duties “necessary and proper … for carrying into execution all the judgments which the judicial department has [the] power to pronounce” (p. 22).

The nineteenth‐century Court marginally supervised system‐wide administration though its rule making powers and through episodic oversight by the circuit riding Supreme Court justice of local court administration. Centralized supervision of the scattered and virtually autonomous federal courts lodged by Congress in different executive branch departments—Treasury (1789–1849), Interior (1849–1870), Justice (1870–1939)—initially involved financial accounts and gradually expanded to include court housing, supplies, personnel management, and caseload statistics. System‐wide administration of the judicial branch began in 1922 under Chief Justice Taft when Congress authorized establishment of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (Judicial Conference of the United States), the judiciary's policymaking institution chaired by the chief justice. The 1939 act creating the Administrative Office of United States Courts supportive of and supervised by the conference largely severed both the Supreme Court and the Justice Department from direct administration of the lower courts. Subsequent legislation established additional judicial agencies: Federal Judicial Center (1967), Judicial Panel on Multi‐District Litigation (1968), U.S. Sentencing Commission (1984). The Administrative Office during the 1980s and 1990s shed some of its centralized functions to the lower courts while the Judicial Conference underwent a restructuring to meet administrative and governance imperatives. The 1939 act also created circuit councils endowed with power, affirmed in Chandler v. Judicial Council (1970), to issue orders promoting regional administration and, after 1980, to investigate judges' misbehavior preliminary to disciplining wayward judges or referring serious matters to the Judicial Conference for action including a recommendation to the House of Representatives for impeachment.

Early congressional grants to the Court of piecemeal authority to prescribe rules of practice and procedure in the lower courts became broad delegations beginning in 1934 for civil procedure riles. Important rules were spawned in the course of adjudication; most emerged from a Court‐appointed advisory committee until 1958, when the Judicial Conference assumed drafting responsibilities. Justices' dissents to the Court's nonadjudicatory rule making persisted until intense congressional opposition to some rules resulted in reform of the process in 1988. Contemporary civil and criminal rule changes have related to the use of electronic information and video teleconferencing in judicial proceedings.

— Peter G. Fish

The Supreme Court is in charge of the administration of the federal judicial system. The chief justice and associate justices participate in the work of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and the Federal Judicial Center.

Judicial Conference of the United States

The chief justice presides over the Judicial Conference of the United States, a board of trustees for the federal courts. Created by an act of Congress in 1922, the Judicial Conference has 27 members who represent the district or trial courts, the intermediate appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. By law, the mission of the Judicial Conference of the United States is to oversee the practices and procedures of the federal courts and to recommend changes to improve the functioning of the federal judicial system. The conference meets twice a year at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Budgeting services and staff support for the Judicial Conference of the United States are provided by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The Administrative Office, created in 1939 by an act of Congress, operates under direction of the Judicial Conference to oversee and provide administrative services for the lower federal courts. More than 600 people work for the Administrative Office. The director, appointed by the Supreme Court, reports to the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Federal Judicial Center

In 1967 Congress enacted legislation to create the Federal Judicial Center, which carries out research and training programs to improve the operations of the federal courts. The chief justice presides over the seven-member board of the center, which meets four times each year and oversees the work of the center's staff of more than 100 people. Findings of the center's research projects are reported to the Judicial Conference of the United States.