Misplaced Pages

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52-592: Responding to a backlog of cases in the federal courts , in 1922 Congress enacted a new form of court administration that advanced the institutionalization of an independent judiciary. The establishment of an annual Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, later to be known as the Judicial Conference of the United States, culminated more than a decade of public debate on the reform of judicial administration. The Conference of Senior Circuit Judges provided

104-472: A "flying squadron", that could be assigned temporarily to congested courts. In Taft's plan, a conference of judges would serve primarily to assess the caseload of the lower courts and assign the at-large judges to courts in need. Taft, supported by a group of federal judges and legal scholars, hoped that the establishment of a more efficient federal judiciary would deflect the efforts of Senator George W. Norris and others who advocated an end to life tenure on

156-425: A case. Each party is either pro se or has one or more counsel (attorney) listed. A party can also have a list of aliases , e.g. , "Winona Judd DBA 'The Judds'". This feature allows name searches to find the case. CM/ECF was breached during the 2020 United States federal government data breach . After gaining access, the attackers deployed "Teardrop", a piece of second-stage malware that likely gave them

208-495: A court of that state would decide the issue or, if that state accepts certified questions from federal courts when state law is unclear or uncertain, ask an appellate court of that state to decide the issue. Notably, the only federal court that can issue proclamations of federal law that bind state courts is the Supreme Court itself. Decisions of the lower federal courts, whether on issues of federal law or state law (when

260-609: A term of three years. In 1961 the chief judge of the CCPA began serving on the conference. The chief judges of these Court of Claims and the CCPA served on the conference until 1982 when their courts merged to become the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit . In 1990, Congress provided for the inclusion of the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade . In 1996, Congress expanded

312-580: A three-judge panel decides a case, all the judges in the circuit may rehear the case en banc . Decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals can be appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Court of Appeals is the "end of the line" for most federal cases. Although several other federal courts bear the phrase "Court of Appeals" in their names—such as the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims —they are not Article III courts and are not considered to sit in appellate circuits. The United States district courts are

364-477: Is a web-based application that is written mainly in Perl and Java, which generates HTML with JavaScript for some client side validation. The software runs under Solaris or Red Hat Linux OS using Apache webserver. Most courts have moved to a Linux server. An Informix SQL database is used to store the data. In general, the software is fairly simple and easily maintained. All documents are required to be filed in

416-712: Is an interface to the same system for public use. CM/ECF was first implemented in 1996 in the Northern District of Ohio to handle a large number of asbestos cases. Pilot programs were implemented in the Western District of Missouri, the Eastern District of New York and the District of Oregon in late 1997. National rollout of the system started in bankruptcy courts in 2001, 2002 in district courts , and in 2004 in appellate courts . CM/ECF

468-411: Is needed. This extends to the incomplete disclosure of gifts, including luxury trips, for judges throughout the judiciary, which hampers the ability of the public to know whether there are enough conflicts of interest to warrant a recusal . Suja A. Thomas argues the federal judiciary has taken most of the constitutionally-defined power from juries in the United States for itself thanks in part to

520-548: Is not used in state courts , but several states have moved toward implementation of comparable systems for at least some cases. As of January 2012, there were "some two hundred" courts running CM/ECF. PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), the Federal Judiciary's electronic public access system, still provides access to docket entries as it did before CM/ECF; however, CM/ECF allows for access to pleadings, motion papers, briefs, and other documents filed by

572-487: Is some variability in the application between districts. Most local changes are cosmetic and do not change the core functionality of the application. The database design centers on the case record and each case record has multiple related records. For example, the "party" table lists parties to the case—Plaintiff, Defendant, Debtor, etc. In a bankruptcy case the Trustee, US Trustee, and certain creditors can become parties to

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624-465: Is therefore generally no basic right of appeal that extends automatically all the way to the Supreme Court. In a few situations (like lawsuits between state governments or some cases between the federal government and a state) it sits as a court of original jurisdiction. The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate federal appellate courts. They operate under a system of mandatory review which means they must hear all appeals of right from

676-518: Is used to make changes and install new versions before "going to live." The training server allows users to learn how to use CM/ECF without affecting live cases. While the application is developed and maintained centrally by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts , local staff members configure the application specifically for the local court to conform to local rules and practices. Since source code can be modified locally, there

728-570: The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces , as well as Article I courts with appellate jurisdiction over specific geographic areas such as the District of Columbia Court of Appeals . The Article I courts with original jurisdiction over specific subject matter include the bankruptcy courts (for each district court), the Court of Federal Claims , and the Tax Court . Article IV courts include

780-498: The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ). Besides these federal courts, described as Article III courts, there are other adjudicative bodies described as Article I or Article IV courts in reference to the article of the Constitution from which the court's authority stems. There are a number of Article I courts with appellate jurisdiction over specific subject matter including the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and

832-800: The High Court of American Samoa and territorial courts such as the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands , District Court of Guam , and District Court of the Virgin Islands . The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico was transformed from an Article IV court to an Article III court in 1966, and reform advocates say the other territorial courts should be changed as well. Federal judges, like Supreme Court justices, are appointed by

884-461: The abstention doctrine and the Rooker–Feldman doctrine limit the power of lower federal courts to disturb rulings made by state courts . The Erie doctrine requires federal courts to apply substantive state law to claims arising from state law (which may be heard in federal courts under supplemental or diversity jurisdiction). In difficult cases, the federal courts must either guess as to how

936-717: The president with the consent of the Senate to serve until they resign, are impeached and convicted, retire, or die. Under Article I of the federal Constitution, Congress also has the power to establish other tribunals, which are usually quite specialized, within the executive branch to assist the president in the execution of his or her powers. Judges who staff them normally serve terms of fixed duration, as do magistrate judges . Judges in Article I tribunals attached to executive branch agencies are referred to as administrative law judges (ALJs) and are generally considered to be part of

988-617: The Advisory Committees include judges, representatives from the Department of Justice, law professors, and practicing attorneys. The Advisory Committees propose rules, subject them to public comment, and then submit them to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure , which in turn submits them to the Judicial Conference, which recommends them to the Supreme Court for approval. Explanatory notes of

1040-455: The Constitution came into force in 1789, Congress gained the authority to establish the federal judicial system as a whole. Only the Supreme Court was established by the Constitution itself. The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the first inferior (i.e., lower) federal courts established pursuant to the Constitution and provided for the first Article III judges. Virtually all U.S. law schools offer an elective course that focuses specifically on

1092-671: The Constitution requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the Congress to create other federal courts and place limitations on their jurisdiction . Article III states that federal judges are appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate to serve until they resign, are impeached and convicted, or die. All federal courts can be readily identified by the words "United States" (abbreviated to "U.S.") in their official names; no state court may include this designation as part of its name. The federal courts are generally divided between trial courts, which hear cases in

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1144-585: The House Judiciary Committee for impeachment. This has happened three times during the 21st century. The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system. The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch. It provides a wide range of administrative, legal, financial, management , program, and information technology services to

1196-854: The IRS has already lost a case on that issue in that circuit. The Articles of Confederation provided a clear basis for the initial establishment of United States of America judicial authority by Congress prior to the Constitution. This authority, enumerated by Article IX, allowed for the establishment of United States jurisdiction in the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, final appeals from state court decisions in all cases of captures of enemy ships, last resort for resolution of disputes between two or more states (including disputes over borders and jurisdiction), and final determination of controversies between private parties arising from conflicting land grants issued by two or more states prior to settlement of which state actually has jurisdiction over

1248-494: The Internal Revenue Service, nonacquiescences (published in a series of documents called Actions on Decisions) "generally do not affect the application of stare decisis or the rule of precedent ". The IRS "will recognize these principles and generally concede issues accordingly during administrative proceedings". In rare cases, however, the IRS may continue to litigate a legal issue in a given circuit even where

1300-687: The PDF format. Other file types may be encapsulated inside PDF files, e.g. audio files in MP3 format, or video files. CM/ECF plans to require PDF/A compliant files to meet the requirements of the National Archives and Records Administration. Each court will set its own deadline for requiring documents to be filed in the PDF/A format. No warning period is planned. Extensive changes were made in version 3.3 to use Yahoo!'s YUI library. This has increased

1352-593: The Senate Judiciary Committee to urge legislation. A large majority in Congress agreed with the need for reform, but both the Senate and the House of Representatives insisted on revising Taft's proposals so that they conformed more closely to the traditions of the federal judiciary. Congress established an annual conference of the chief justice of the United States (or the senior associate justice if

1404-775: The U.S. District Courts for the Northern , Eastern , Western , and Southern Districts of New York . Most cases "are tried by a single judge, sitting alone". In certain cases, Congress has diverted original jurisdiction to specialized courts, such as the Court of International Trade , the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court , the Alien Terrorist Removal Court , or to Article I or Article IV tribunals . The district courts usually have jurisdiction to hear appeals from such tribunals (unless, for example, appeals are to

1456-480: The United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primarily of the U.S. Supreme Court , the U.S. Courts of Appeals , and the U.S. District Courts . It also includes a variety of other lesser federal tribunals. Article III of

1508-494: The act permitted the chief justice to request the attorney general to report on the business of the courts. Even without a formal relationship with Congress or the Department of Justice (which then administered the federal courts), the conference offered the judiciary a means of communicating its administrative needs. The conference was renamed the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1948. In 1956, Congress provided for

1560-627: The case is the docket sheet . The docket sheet contains a chronological list of each filing and any associated documents (in PDF format) in the case. Each record includes the filing date, docket text, and a link to filed documents. Events can link to past events. Example docket text: "Hearing Held on #18 Motion for Relief from Stay to Proceed With Foreclosure Action Against 123 Corporate Drive, Anytown, Pennsylvania. Filed by ABC Bank Represented by DEWEY CHEATEM (Counsel). ORDER ENTERED (T., Jason) (Entered: 03/01/2007)"—see this sample CM/ECF docket sheet . CM/ECF

1612-405: The chief is unable), and the senior circuit judge (now called the chief judge) from each judicial circuit and charged the conference with a general mandate to advise on the administrative needs of the federal courts. The act required the senior judge in each district to prepare an annual report of the business of the district's court. The conference would use these reports to prepare suggestions for

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1664-542: The chief judge of the circuit and an equal number of circuit judges and district judges of the circuit. The following list of Judicial Conference service is organized by the circuits and courts represented. It was compiled largely from the Reports of the Proceedings of the Judicial Conference and is complete through the most recent meeting of the conference. The list contains the names of those judges who were members of

1716-414: The complexity of the version 3.2 code. The 3.3 application sports a more modern interface with drop down menus and no frame. Much of the 3.2 simple HTML user interface is still available depending on the menu items selected. The system is decentralized with each court running its own servers and its own copy of the software. Each court has a live server and separate training and test servers. The test server

1768-561: The conference, but not those who may occasionally have attended in their absence. District Judges are identified by the district in which they served. Supreme Court of the United States (prior to merger of the appellate division into the Federal Circuit) (prior to merger into the Federal Circuit) United States federal courts [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The federal judiciary of

1820-444: The district judge term up to five years and allowed senior district judges to serve. The Judicial Conference last revised its Advisory Committee structure in 1987, then naming a total of 20 Standing Advisory Committees, seven of which were then newly organized, and several of which absorbed other, previous Committees: Each Advisory Committee is charged, respectively, with drafting proposed amendments for submission to the: Members of

1872-670: The drafting Advisory Committee are published along with the final adopted rules, and are frequently used as an authority on the interpretation of the rules. Other active policy areas concern the operation of CM/ECF , the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, and PACER , the electronic public access service for United States federal court documents. On occasion, the Conference has authorized investigations of federal judges accused of criminal malfeasance. Those deemed guilty have been referred to

1924-444: The effective and expeditious administration of justice" within their circuits. Among their responsibilities is judicial discipline, the formulation of circuit policy, the implementation of policy directives received from the Judicial Conference, and the annual submission of a report to the Administrative Office on the number and nature of orders entered during the year that relate to judicial misconduct. Each judicial circuit consists of

1976-620: The executive branch even though they exercise quasi-judicial powers. With limited exceptions, they cannot render final judgments in cases involving life, liberty, and private property rights, but may make preliminary rulings subject to review by an Article III judge. The 30,000 people who work for the judiciary have mostly no workplace protections unlike millions of employees around the United States, including in U.S. Congress, who have more civil rights as employees. The judiciary has been critiqued as an example of how self-policing does not work and transparency and accountability from an independent body

2028-432: The federal bench and the restriction of the lower federal courts' jurisdiction . By the time Taft became Chief Justice, the increased caseload resulting from World War I and the enforcement of Prohibition had contributed to broad support for reform of the federal judiciary. Assuming a role as leader of the judiciary as well as the Supreme Court, Taft joined with Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty and appeared before

2080-495: The federal courts. It was established in 1939. The AO is directly supervised by the Judicial Conference, and implements and executes Judicial Conference policies, as well as applicable federal statutes and regulations. The AO facilitates communications within the judiciary and with Congress, the executive branch, and the public on behalf of the judiciary. Judicial councils are panels of each federal judicial circuit that are charged with making "necessary and appropriate orders for

2132-469: The first formal mechanism by which members of the federal judiciary might develop national administrative policies, reassign judges temporarily, and recommend legislation. Chief Justice William Howard Taft , appointed to the Supreme Court in 1921, had led a public campaign for federal judicial reform since leaving the White House in 1913. Taft proposed the appointment of at-large judges, what he called

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2184-418: The first instance, and appellate courts, which review contested decisions made by lower courts. The Supreme Court of the United States is the court of last resort . It generally hears appeals from the courts of appeals (and sometimes state courts), operating under discretionary review , which means that the Supreme Court can choose which cases to hear, by granting petitions for writs of certiorari . There

2236-418: The general federal trial courts. There are 94 U.S. District Courts, one for each of the 94 federal judicial districts . The U.S. District Courts and federal judicial districts are organized according to U.S. state boundaries. Depending on a state's population, it may be covered by only a single district court, such as the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska , or by up to four district courts, such as

2288-399: The inclusion of the chief judge of the Court of Claims . At that time, the judges of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) declined to include a representative on the conference. The size of the conference nearly doubled following an act of 1957 that provided for the appellate and district judges in each circuit to elect a district judge to represent the circuit on the conference for

2340-403: The influence of legal elites and companies that prefer judges over juries as well as the inability of the jury to defend its power. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution as placing some additional restrictions on the federal courts. For example, the doctrines of mootness , ripeness , and standing prohibit district courts from issuing advisory opinions . Other doctrines, such as

2392-620: The lower courts. In some cases, Congress has diverted appellate jurisdiction to specialized courts, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review . The U.S. Courts of Appeals are divided into 13 circuits: 12 regional circuits, numbered First through Eleventh ; the District of Columbia Circuit ; and a 13th circuit, the Federal Circuit , which has special jurisdiction over appeals involving specialized subjects such as patents and trademarks . Nearly all appeals are heard by three-judge panels, but on rare occasions, after

2444-616: The parties and attorneys in the case (with the exception of any documents permitted to be filed under seal or in camera ). For most documents, an access charge of $ 0.10 per page is levied to defray the cost of maintaining the system. In compliance with the E-Government Act of 2002 , written opinions that "set forth a reasoned explanation for a court's decision" are free of charge. To facilitate online access, courts implementing CM/ECF require attorneys to file copies of most litigation papers electronically, instead of or in addition to

2496-483: The powers and limitations of U.S. federal courts, with coverage of topics such as justiciability , abstention doctrines , the abrogation doctrine , and habeas corpus . CM/ECF CM/ECF ( Case Management/Electronic Case Files ) is the case management and electronic court filing system for most of the United States federal courts . PACER , an acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records ,

2548-407: The question was not certified to a state court), are persuasive but not binding authority in the states in which those federal courts sit. Some commentators assert that another limitation upon federal courts is executive nonacquiescence in judicial decisions, where the executive simply refuses to accept them as binding precedent . In the context of administration of U.S. internal revenue laws by

2600-407: The temporary transfer of judges, pending the approval of all courts involved. This expansion of the authority to transfer judges fell far short of Taft's concept of a permanent corps of at-large judges. Congress established 24 temporary judgeships, but adhered to the principle of fixed residency for district judges. Congress also declined to make the attorney general a member of the conference, although

2652-528: The territory. The Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture was the first United States court established by the United States. Additional United States courts were established to adjudicate border disputes between the states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania , New York and Massachusetts , Georgia and South Carolina . A United States court was also established for the Northwest Territory . When

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2704-512: The traditional filing of paper copies. The main purpose of the system is to fulfill the legal obligation of the Clerk of Court as custodian of court records. Each case is assigned a number in the format D:YY-TT-SSSSS where D=Division Office (most districts are split into divisions), YY=Year, TT=Type ( e.g. bk=bankruptcy, cv=civil, cr=criminal), SSSSS=Sequence number. The case number does not contain any type of court identifier. The main list of

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