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THE JUDICIAL BRANCH AND THE EFFICIENT 

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

COURTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, 

AND THE INTERNET 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 6, 2016 

Serial No. 114–83 

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

JIM JORDAN, Ohio 

TED POE, Texas 

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

TREY GOWDY, South Carolina 

RAU ́ L LABRADOR, Idaho 

BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

RON DeSANTIS, Florida 

MIMI WALTERS, California 

KEN BUCK, Colorado 

JOHN RATCLIFFE, Texas 

DAVE TROTT, Michigan 

MIKE BISHOP, Michigan 

JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., 

Georgia 

PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico 

JUDY CHU, California 

TED DEUTCH, Florida 

LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois 

KAREN BASS, California 

CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana 

SUZAN DelBENE, Washington 

HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York 

DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

SCOTT PETERS, California 

SHELLEY HUSBAND, Chief of Staff & General Counsel 

PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director & Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND THE INTERNET

DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia, Vice-Chairman 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

JIM JORDAN, Ohio 

TED POE, Texas 

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas 

RON DeSANTIS, Florida 

MIMI WALTERS, California 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

JUDY CHU, California 

TED DEUTCH, Florida 

KAREN BASS, California 

CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana 

SUZAN DelBENE, Washington 

HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York 

DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

SCOTT PETERS, California 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., 

Georgia 

JOE KEELEY, Chief Counsel 

HEATHER SAWYER, Minority Counsel 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

JULY 6, 2016 

Page 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of California, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet .......................................................................................... 1 

The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of New York, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary .............................. 3 

WITNESS 

James C. Duff, Director, Administrative Office of the United States Courts 

Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 19 

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Prepared Statement of the Honorable Rodney W. Sippel, Chief Judge, U.S. 

District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri ........................................... 5 

APPENDIX 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

Response to Questions for the Record from James C. Duff, Director, Administrative Office of the United States Courts ......................................................... 61 

OFFICIAL HEARING RECORD 

UNPRINTED MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

Additional Material submitted for the Record. This material is available at the Subcommittee and can also be accessed at: 

http://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=105113 

(1) 

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH AND THE EFFICIENT 

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2016 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND THE INTERNET

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in Room 

2237, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Darrell E. 

Issa, (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Issa, Goodlatte, Chabot, Franks, Jordan, Cohen, and Johnson. 

Staff Present: (Majority) Joe Keeley, Chief Counsel; Eric Bagwell, 

Clerk; and (Minority) Jason Everett, Minority Counsel. 

Mr. ISSA. The Committee will come to order. Members will be 

continuing to come in, and the Ranking Member, and the full Committee Chairman and Ranking Member—when they arrive—will 

make their opening statements, but we will not interrupt testimony. 

Today we are here for the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual 

Property, and the Internet; and, without objection, the Committee 

Chair will be authorized to declare recesses of the Subcommittee at 

any time. 

We welcome today’s hearing on the judicial branch and the effective administration of justice. Today’s hearing is about ensuring 

the proper oversight measures exist in our court system, and that 

justice is administered fairly by those who live up to the ethical 

standards required of our judges. 

Respect for our government seems to be at an all-time low. Various scandals at executive branch agencies seem to be on a rise, on 

a regular basis. A Member of Congress from Philadelphia was recently convicted on 23 counts of fraud and racketeering before resigning just 2 weeks ago. It is absolutely critical that the judicial 

branch be an honest broker when called upon. However, the judicial branch is the least well known branch, and many say, the 

smallest, although its power, when addressed, is considerable. 

It also has historically lacked transparency. It is time, however, 

for the judicial branch to come from the shadows. Americans expect 

an open and transparent government. Americans expect disclosures 
2 

of potential conflicts of interest, along with financial disclosures. 

Their expectation, rightfully so, belongs to three branches. 

Finally, they expect to see their government officials doing their 

job. While C-SPAN may not be everyone’s favorite channel today, 

it is an important part of making government accessibility to its 

citizens. There are cameras in this hearing room today, and citizens can judge for themselves whether or not elected officials are 

doing what they were sent to Washington to do. And, I might note 

that today’s hearing will be archived and available immediately 

and for years to come. 

Depending upon their offices, elected officials face the voters 

every 2, 4, or 6 years. Federal judges, Article III Federal judges, 

have a lifetime appointment, while other Federal judges have longterm appointments. That was set by the U.S. Constitution, and we 

respect that, with the absence of term limits, the court is, in fact, 

a permanent body; once confirmed, unaccountable, except in the 

case of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

Judicial transparency is also lacking elsewhere. For example, the 

court system has no inspector general or, in other words, no watchdog of the judiciary. There are only a few cameras in a few courtrooms on a test basis, and the cameras in the courtroom are controversial and rare. In the Northern District of California, involving the NSA data collection, cameras were permitted, and I would 

like to take this opportunity to show just a little bit of what was 

voluntarily captured, if I may. 

[Video shown.] 

Mr. ISSA. Could you pause it right there, please? Thank you. 

Oops. Okay, perhaps no pause button. If we can figure out ways 

to consistently broadcast, capture, and retain this type of information that you saw in the case of what was, in fact, a case involving 

a sensitive national security issue, without jeopardizing secrets, 

then I believe that we can find a similar way for the purposes of 

archiving and, when appropriate, capturing evidentiary events in 

the courtroom. And, I want to be very brief, but there are a couple 

of areas that people often forget. 

Although we capture a transcript and, in many cases, an audible 

recording, and have for years, one cannot necessarily capture a 

pointing at a document, or a misrepresentation that may, in some 

way, be captured by a video. 

Additionally, any disturbance within the courtroom, it cannot be 

effectively captured by a transcribed interview. But, in fact, a video 

can capture misconduct. This could lead, in the case of disturbances and/or some action of a person, to have facial identification. 

These are all sensible reasons, over and above the basic question 

of, would the American people feel more comfortable if they could 

sit in their own home and watch exactly what the jury is watching, 

and what the limited amount of people in the audience are able to 

watch in any case, at any time, before the Federal court? Just like 

the THOMAS and PACER System is fundamental to making the 

court transparent, Americans believe that paying 10 cents a page 

for those documents is not, in fact, giving them the transparent access. 

So, lastly, as I close, one of the important parts of a video capture would be that they would receive, in real time and by recorded 
3 

means, the ability to capture any and all information that was presented to the jury, without having to pay for it. As I said earlier, 

I will recognize the Ranking Member when he arrives but, at this 

point, we will go on to introducing our witness. 

Today I want to thank our distinguished witness for taking time 

out of his busy schedule to be with us. The witness statements will 

be placed in the record in the entirety, and you know how the 

lights work, because you have done this before, and additionally— 

this is the opposite order I am used to. 

I want to introduce our witness, Mr. James Duff, Director of the 

Administrative Office of the United States Courts; in other words, 

the man who spends about $13 billion in various ways on our behalf, and, pursuant to the rules of the Committee. 

Mr. Duff, would you please rise to take the oath, and raise your 

right hand? You know this from other parts of government. Do you 

solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give 

will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? 

Please be seated. Let the record indicate that Mr. Duff answered 

in the affirmative. Again, you are the only witness. You are the 

person most knowledgeable of the spending and who, as a matter 

of your job, works closely with the justices of the Supreme Court 

and the other administrative judges around the country. So, I am 

not going to limit you in your opening statement strictly to the 5 

minutes, but as close as possible. 

And, with that, I will recognize the Chairman of the full Committee for his opening statement, Mr. Goodlatte. 

Mr. GOODLATTE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate your holding this hearing. America, as a Nation of laws; 

with laws, come disputes and differences of opinion. The American 

people look to our Nation’s courts to be efficient, transparent, and 

fair arbiters for settling disputes when they arise. To achieve these 

expectations, the judiciary must efficiently administer justice, despite the fact that the judiciary receives only a small portion of our 

Nation’s budget. 

As this Committee has seen previously in the disastrous GSA 

renovation of the Poff Courthouse in my hometown of Roanoke, and 

in other wasteful GSA expenditures, not all spending on judicial 

needs is directly within the judiciary’s control. 

However, it is healthy for Congress, which has responsibility for 

authorizing funding for the judiciary, to review spending by the judiciary, and have an opportunity to ask questions, to assess the efficiency of that spending. 

In addition to efficiency, the American people expect transparency with respect to judicial actions. Transparency bolsters 

American’s trust in fair and independent judges who are above ethical reproach. 

The PACER system helps to deliver transparency, and has enabled anyone with an internet connection to read court filings and 

decisions, much like THOMAS, the legislative search tool allows 

the public to see what Members of Congress do on their behalf. 

However, THOMAS, unlike PACER, comes with no direct fee. To 

be sure, there is a budgetary cost to operating both THOMAS and 

PACER, but in today’s interconnected world, Americans increas-
4 

ingly demand access to information, including court documents, 

freely and without a direct surcharge. 

Another possible way to deliver transparency is to allow Americans to watch court proceedings. Our hearing today is being 

webcast to anyone who wants to watch it, but hearings only a few 

blocks away at the District Court for the District of Columbia and 

at the United States Supreme Court will never be seen by anyone. 

The idea of allowing cameras in our Nation’s courtrooms is not a 

new one, but I look forward to hearing more about this issue today. 

In addition to the efficient and transparent administration of justice, the American people look to the judicial branch to be the fair 

arbiter of disputes that arise in civil and criminal contexts, and expect impartial and ethical judges. 

While the vast majority of Federal judges exercise their duties 

with the highest moral and ethical standards, regretfully, there 

have been recent situations in which Federal judges have fallen 

short of these standards. 

For example, one judge in Alabama abused his wife and then lied 

about it to his colleagues before he resigned under pressure. Another judge appears to have engaged in deplorable conduct before 

he became a Federal judge, only to resign on disability days, days 

after widespread news reports appeared about his conduct. 

To investigate ethical breaches like these, as well as, to ensure 

that instances of fraud and waste are discovered and addressed, 

former Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner and current 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley have supported the creation 

of an inspector general for the judiciary. 

While the judiciary has strongly resisted the creation of such an 

inspector general, I look forward to exploring this idea further, as 

well. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about 

these and other issues concerning the operation of the judiciary, 

and, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your forbearance and yield 

back. 

Mr. ISSA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to take a moment to thank you for the work that you have done in guiding the 

areas of reform that you are looking forward in the court system. 

I serve at your pleasure, but I also serve at your guidance. So 

thank you. And, Mr. Duff, with no further ado, please, you are recognized. 

TESTIMONY OF JAMES C. DUFF, DIRECTOR, ADMINISTRATIVE 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS 

Mr. DUFF. Thank you very much, Chairman Issa, and Ranking 

Member Nadler, who is due to arrive, and Members of the Subcommittee, and I appreciate very much Chairman Goodlatte’s invitation to appear before you, and I am grateful for the opportunity 

to discuss the judicial branch and our goals and efforts to provide 

the most efficient and effective administration of justice in the 

world. 

We regret that Judge Rodney Sippel, who was to appear here 

today too, could not be present because of a death in his family, 

and our thoughts are with Judge Sippel this morning as we testify 

here before your Committee. We ask that his written statement be 

included in the record. 
5 

Mr. ISSA. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information referred to follows:] 
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Mr. DUFF. Thank you. One of the most distinctive features of our 

form of government is our independent judiciary, and its administration of justice. When judicial representatives from foreign countries and developing democracies visit our offices, they are usually 

familiar with the constitutional structure we have in the United 

States that provides for an independent judiciary, its provisions for 

life tenure for judges, and its prohibitions against any reduction of 

salary. 

But, what has been very interesting to me is that our visitors are 

most interested in learning about the administrative office of the 

branch, and our Judicial Conference of the United States, and how 

these administrative structures both operate and help enable the 

branch to maintain its independence. I would like to address some 

of those features here today too, as they also demonstrate how we 

strive for efficiencies in administering the branch. 

The judiciary is, of course, dependent on Congress for its funding, 

and we are very grateful that Congress has made us a funding priority in the past three budget cycles after sequestration. It is clear 

from our appropriators in Congress that we are recognized as careful stewards of public funds, and I would like to speak briefly as 

to how the judiciary is managing and being responsible stewards 

of those funds in its efficient administration of justice, and I focused on just three areas from my expanded written statement, 

which I also ask be submitted for the record. 

Mr. ISSA. Without objection, so ordered. 

Mr. DUFF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To summarize the three 

areas in my written statement very briefly—first, we have highlighted several case management practices that are implemented, 

both by the courts locally and at the national level, through coordinated programs that are structured in our Judicial Conference 

committees, and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. 

We encourage every court to employ the best practices we have 

gleaned from local courts. A prime example of this is, in fact, electronic filing in our Federal courts. This started in one court in the 

Northern District of Ohio, and now all Federal courts have it. I 

would point out that, by contrast, some State courts still do not 

have this service, and it saves significant funds for the taxpayers. 

Second, we are effectively and efficiently managing public funds 

through workforce and resource management practices that include: the utilization of magistrate judges, inter and intra-circuit 

assignment of judges to courts with the heaviest caseloads, sharing 

administrative services among courts, and employing improved 

work measurement tools to determine our needs more accurately. 

Our senior judges, those who could retire, but have chosen to continue their service, are frankly keeping the branch afloat. 

We are managing financial resources through a realistic budget 

formulation, and we have developed very strong working relationships with our appropriators and our work with them to find savings wherever possible, at every stage of the budget process, is paying great dividends. And, we have employed cost-containment initiatives for over 10 years now, even before sequestration, and those 

have enabled us, among other things, to bring down our rent projections, and our space and facilities needs down. 
18 

And, Chairman Goodlatte had mentioned our work with GSA 

and some of the issues we have had with GSA in the past. I am 

very pleased to report this morning that we have an improved service validation initiative with GSA that is getting good results, and 

I think can save us as much as $10 million annually, as we go 

through that program with GSA. 

We have also utilized an aggressive auditing program that relies 

on independent, certified public accounting firms, as well as, our 

staff of auditors at the administrative office, to audit our financial 

systems, our programs, and operations that support the courts 

among many other audits. 

All told, 205 separate audits were conducted in fiscal year 2015, 

and I would add that we respond routinely to GAO requests for 

studies, 12 such requests alone in 2014. 

Third, we are working toward enhanced access to the judicial 

process, even during austere budgets. Our caseload statistics fluctuate over time, but the overall trend since the last comprehensive 

judgeship bill was enacted in 1990, has grown far faster than the 

number of judges that we have. Our ability to stay current in most 

courts is a testament to our increasing efficiencies, and the hard 

work of our judges and staff. 

There are, however, some districts that simply cannot keep up 

with the enormous number of new cases and we, therefore, have 

asked the Congress to provide more judges in those districts with 

extraordinarily high caseloads, and to convert certain temporary 

judgeships to permanent status. We also asked Congress to please 

be mindful of the judiciary’s needs when new legislation is passed 

that adds to the workloads of the courts, such as in sentencing, in 

criminal justice reform, and immigration reform. 

Mr. Chairman, this is only a brief summary of my written testimony, which elaborates on these and other points, and I would be 

very pleased to answer any questions you may have about that, as 

well as, to address the issues you have raised in your opening 

statement this morning. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Duff follows:] 
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Mr. ISSA. Thank you, and since we have been joined by Congressman Franks, Mr. Franks, if you would like to—if you have questions, I will be glad to take yours first. 

Mr. FRANKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. Thank you, 

Mr. Duff, for being here. Mr. Duff, as you know, other branches of 

government have comprehensive disclosure and ethics rules, and I 

am wondering if you think the judiciary should also have disclosure 

and ethics rules for all judges, including those on the Supreme 

Court, and should there be reforms to impeachment standards, or 

should an inspector general be appointed for the judicial branch? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, to answer them in order, we do have financial 

disclosure reports that are filed by—— 

Mr. FRANKS. These are financial disclosures, not general ethics, 

correct? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, and we follow ethics standards certainly. We 

have codes of conduct within the branch, and we follow those, and 

they are modeled after similar codes and, with regard to—— 

Mr. FRANKS. I am sorry. I do not mean to interrupt you, but 

these are written? 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, there are standards within the branch for conduct of judges, and we have a very robust system within the 

branch of overseeing and reviewing allegations of misconduct. 

Mr. FRANKS. Do those apply to the Supreme Court? 

Mr. DUFF. Pardon me? 

Mr. FRANKS. Do those apply to the Supreme Court? 

Mr. DUFF. No, sir. The Administrative Office of the Courts and 

the Judicial Conference of the United States only oversees and 

works with the Federal courts, not the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has its own court administrator. 

Mr. FRANKS. Yeah, own everything? 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, and it is a constitutional court, unlike the—created in the Constitution. The Federal courts, by contrast, have 

been created by the Congress. So, there is that distinction and I 

should mention that I appear here today only on behalf of the Federal courts, the Federal court system, and not on behalf of the Supreme Court. 

Mr. FRANKS. Not the Supreme Court. 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, sir. 

Mr. FRANKS. Okay. Well, then I will just move on here. What do 

you think the negative consequences, if any, have been to cameras 

in a limited number of the Federal courthouses? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, we have had pilot programs, and we do permit 

cameras at the Court of Appeals. Only two such circuits are utilizing cameras now. The camera issue has been around for quite 

some time. We have very serious concerns in criminal trials. The 

ability to bring witnesses in to cases are affected by cameras; 

threats to individuals who appear as witnesses are very serious, 

and cameras publicize that and their images. There may be techniques to block that out, but they are not perfected. 

We have had a pilot program for cameras in the courts in civil 

cases in recent years, and we had a study done by the Federal Judicial Center as to the benefits and detriments of it in the pilot program. That was considered by one of our Judicial Conference committees, and it was determined that there is not, at the current 
42 

date, an overwhelming or pressing need to televise all trials at the 

Federal court level. 

Mr. FRANKS. Would it be fair to suggest that your assessment 

might be—what would be—and let me just ask what would be the 

net effect, do you think, on balance? Do you think it has been a 

positive or not? 

Mr. DUFF. I think where they were utilized in the pilot program, 

there was no recognized positive effect. In fact, if you look at the 

statistics in the pilot program that we ran, the individuals who 

were the litigants in the case—each party was given the chance to 

determine whether they would prefer or have any objection to it 

being televised or not—and the overwhelming majority said that 

they did not want it televised. And so, it was a very small percentage of the participating courts in the pilot program that actually 

utilized cameras in the courtroom as a result. I would point out 

that there are distinctions between the branches, and among the 

branches, in this regard. Certainly, our trials are open to the public. Anyone can go into the courtroom and attend. So, they are not 

closed in that sense. 

The determination as to whether or not they should be televised 

is a different question, and there are different aspects of this that 

apply to the branches. The general public has no vote in the cases 

before a court. The courts are there to serve the litigants, and the 

parties, and to resolve conflicts. 

And so, there are different aspects of, perhaps, the need for televised hearings, unlike, by contrast, in Congress and your Committee hearings and this Committee hearing today. The public has 

every right and interest, and a vote in many, if not most, of the 

issues that appear before your Committees. 

So, there are some distinctions in the branches that I think need 

to be recognized as we consider the question, and we are all for 

public access, and the Chairman has raised a couple of issues I 

know we will address further this morning about the ability to access information from the courts, in our opinions. 

Just as an aside, I would point out that our PACER system that 

the Chairman referred to, our PACER system and the costs involved in our PACER organization within the courts—that was a 

determination, and you mentioned 10 cents a page for getting transcripts and so forth. The opinions of the courts on PACER are free. 

Seventy percent of the users in the PACER system do so for free. 

The costs involved to the courts are passed on to the users, and 

most of them are institutional users that have to pay for access in 

PACER. Those costs are passed on because the Congress wanted us 

to do that, frankly. We were going to have to incur increased expenses in our budget when we went to Congress about providing 

information on PACER to the public. And, the Congress decided, 

and I think wisely so, that those costs should be passed on to users 

who can afford the costs, and they are not extraordinary costs, and 

those who cannot afford it should have access for free. 

So, there is a user fee associated with PACER, but that was at 

the direction of Congress, so that we did not have to seek more 

money in our budget. We were going to have to pay for it somehow. 

Mr. FRANKS. Yeah. Well, thank you, Mr. Duff. I wish to thank 

the Chairman. Thank you for being so gracious here. 
43 

Mr. ISSA. Thank you, Mr. Franks. We now go to the gentleman 

from Ohio, Mr. Chabot, for his questions. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here, 

Mr. Duff. 

Mr. DUFF. Thank you. 

Mr. CHABOT. Sorry I was not here in time to hear your testimony. We have got various hearings going on at different rooms 

around here. I would like to follow up, I think, along the lines that 

my colleague, Mr. Franks, asked, and it is relative to cameras in 

the courtroom. Do you know what the number is; how many States 

actually allow cameras within the court rooms? 

Mr. DUFF. I am sorry, I do not know off the top of my head, but 

we can get that. 

Mr. CHABOT. Okay. Would you agree that it started out pretty 

small, and has now grown to most of the States? 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, and I am sure that is right. 

Mr. CHABOT. Okay. What makes the Federal level different? Why 

should we not learn from the experience that the States have had 

in this, and had they had a lot of problems, it would seem that that 

trend would not have continued where they have opened up the 

courtrooms to the public. 

Mr. DUFF. I think that there has been some genuine hesitation 

to open up, and certainly in criminal cases, open up Federal courts 

to cameras. There are a lot of concerns about how the trials are 

conducted and the impact that they have on witnesses and—— 

Mr. CHABOT. Well, let me stop you there if I can. We will put the 

criminal part aside for a moment then. But, at the present time, 

in the overwhelming majority of the Federal courtrooms across the 

Nation, you are not allowing cameras in the civil cases either. Is 

that correct? 

Mr. DUFF. That is at the district court level. Yes, sir. But at the 

appellate court level, there is a provision that would permit cameras. 

Mr. CHABOT. All right. Would you agree that probably to most of 

the public, the actual trial itself would be more interesting for the 

public to see what is going on in the courtrooms that they, after 

all, pay for than at the Federal level where, you know—it tends to 

be a bunch of lawyers talking to each other about fairly obscure 

legal issues most of the time, if it please the court. So, would it not 

be more interesting to most people, probably at the trial level, to 

begin with? 

Mr. DUFF. Are you speaking of criminal trials or civil trials? 

Mr. CHABOT. Let’s stay with the civil for the time being, yeah. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, as I mentioned at the outset, any individual can 

go to any court in the country and attend a trial if they want. 

Mr. CHABOT. Right. Well, let me ask you about that. Obviously, 

you have got people that, you know, that work; support their families; take care of their families; are doing what it takes to live in 

our society nowadays. Should we not make it more accessible to the 

public, more convenient to them, so that if they want to watch— 

if it is a court TV channel or whatever they want to watch, you 

know, should we not leave that up to the public to make it easier 

for them? 
44 

Mr. DUFF. Well, there are advantages and disadvantages, and I 

think the Federal court system, we are considering this. We have 

been looking at it and we have done a pilot program in it. We just 

have not felt that at this time that there is an overwhelming need 

or interest in doing it. I think the viewership in civil trials, frankly, 

is not a compelling reason to televise civil trials. There is a concern 

that it changes behavior. It changes behavior in the courtroom. It 

changes the behavior of the judges and the lawyers. 

Mr. CHABOT. Well, I know that was a concern. It was a concern 

at the State level that it would change the behavior. Maybe it 

changes it for the better, for that matter, but most of the studies 

that I have seen indicates that it really does not change behavior 

significantly. I mean, they said the same thing—and I know we are 

different branches of the government—but they said that about CSPAN years ago, and that happened prior to me getting here about 

20 years ago. 

And, in general, we just take it for granted now. There are cameras there and, if you do not want to be embarrassed, do not do 

anything embarrassing in front of the cameras. And, I think most 

of the legislation that I have seen, and, to be open and honest, that 

I have introduced in the past to allow cameras in the courtroom, 

we would leave it up to the Federal judge and the parties to determine if they want cameras in the courtroom or not. If a judge does 

not want it in the courtroom, then do not have it. 

And, there are judges that do think that we should do this, although it is obviously not unanimous. Maybe it is not even the majority, but it would seem to me that if the judge thinks that it is 

okay and that he can keep control, just as we have these cameras 

here, you know, and the parties themselves do not have any opposition—it just seems to me that since the public pays for this and 

they pay your salary and my salary, that they ought to have access. 

I am sure that you have heard the expression about sunshine 

being the best disinfectant, and I am not saying that there is anything going on wrong in the courtrooms, but it would just seem the 

public ought to have access to those things. 

So, we talked about civil and, as far as I am concerned, the same 

thing would apply to criminal cases, insomuch as if you have got 

a case—let’s say, you know, it is organized crime or it is some sort 

of situation where witnesses do need to have their identities protected and, of course, the judge could at the very beginning of the 

case could decide, ‘‘This is the kind of case we do not want to have 

that, so no cameras on this case.’’ That would be fine. 

But Jerry Nadler, who was, you know, a Democrat still on—I believe he is still on this Committee. I know he is on the Judiciary 

Committee. Yeah, there you are. Mr. Nadler over there, he and I 

worked on an amendment that—he was concerned about that; that 

obscured the identity of witnesses to make sure that they were protected. 

So, I just think that virtually any roadblock that is thrown up 

to say, ‘‘No, we cannot have cameras,’’ can be reasonably dealt 

with, and I think we ought to do it. So, I hope you will reconsider, 

but I am guessing you probably will not. 
45 

Mr. DUFF. No, actually we have had the pilot program. The 

Ninth Circuit is continuing the pilot in the courts there that participated in it. We are going to continue to take a look at the issue. 

We have some concerns. I think there are some distinctions in the 

branches that I pointed out a little earlier, as to the purpose of 

trials and the public’s interest certainly is very important, but the 

trials and the courts are there to serve the litigants. And, it is a 

little different than issues on which the public at large have a vote, 

and so there are different considerations. 

We are looking at the State court systems and where they are 

successful. Our pilot program, though, was instructive in this way. 

When given the choice to have cameras in the case or not, the vast 

majority—and I will get the statistic for you—said no, that they did 

not want them there. And, we are trying to resolve conflicts between two parties in the court system, and that is a little different 

dynamic, frankly. 

And, while they are open to the public generally, I agree that it 

is not open to every citizen because they cannot come to one individual court and get in and see the case. But, we are trying to find 

the right balance. We are going to continue to look at it. It is an 

important issue, and we are studying it within the court system. 

I will share something with you anecdotally, though, about the 

success or issues, and I know you have already committed, and I 

am friends with C-SPAN, so I admire what they have done for the 

public. But, I was at dinner one evening with Senator Howard 

Baker, for whom I worked for a number of years, and someone 

asked him if he had anything to do over again ‘‘when you were Majority Leader of the Senate, what would it be?’’ And, he said, ‘‘I 

would’’—without hesitation he said, ‘‘I would never have allowed 

cameras in the Senate.’’ And—— 

Mr. CHABOT. Can I ask you what year that was? 

Mr. DUFF. This was 2000. 

Mr. ISSA. You can refuse to answer if it is incriminating. 

Mr. DUFF. Let’s see, he passed away 2 or 3 years—a couple of 

years ago, so it has been within the last 5 or 10 years. But, you 

know, there are advantages and disadvantages—— 

Mr. CHABOT. Speeches are not as good over in the Senate as they 

are in the House anyway so—— 

Mr. DUFF. Well, his point was, and this is the point I would 

raise, and we are having a good, healthy discussion about this. 

And, I am glad we are having this, because we want to have this 

conversation with you, and the more communication about it, the 

better. 

But, I think that Senator Baker’s point was it changed the behavior of the members, because they used to get work done on the 

floor of the Senate. It was a buzz of activity, and now today you 

go into the Senate and, with apologies to C-SPAN, there is one individual member speaking to a camera and it is empty, for the 

most part. This was his point. I am paraphrasing his issue with it. 

And so, he was not convinced it was a positive that the proceedings in the Senate are now televised on balance because he 

thought they got more work done when there were not cameras on 

the floor. 
46 

So, the point I would make about that is cameras do change behavior. I mean, I am not as comfortable here today, frankly, because there is a camera, but I welcome it, because I have nothing 

to hide, as you say, about sunshine. But when it comes to trials 

and cases involving litigants’ interests, there is a different element 

that we have to take a careful look at, and what our purpose is in 

the judicial branch, and it differs slightly than the other two 

branches, is all I would add to that. 

And so, I hope that you all could appreciate that aspect of it. We 

are not trying to hide anything. We are just trying to provide the 

best form of justice in the world to our citizens. 

Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Chairman, do I have time to make a follow-up? 

Mr. ISSA. Absolutely. 

Mr. CHABOT. Yeah. And, I think that is the reason I think we 

in the legislative branch are trying to be as understanding and accommodating as possible by saying we will leave it up to the judges 

to decide whether or not, in that particular case, they will allow 

cameras or not; or if they do not want them at all, that is fine. So, 

that is about as accommodating as I think this branch could get 

to that branch. 

And, the final thing I would note is a full disclosure, when I was 

Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee of this Judiciary Committee for 6 years, shortly after our new Chief Justice was sworn 

in, Justice Roberts, I met with him over in his office over there, 

and we discussed this and a lot of other issues, but this one in particular with great gusto. And, I did not win that argument. So, in 

any event, I hope someday we will. Thank you. 

Mr. DUFF. Thank you, Congressman Chabot, and I want to mention I was just home last weekend for a 45th high school reunion 

and came into Cincinnati. I am from Hamilton originally, but—— 

Mr. CHABOT. Hamilton High School. 

Mr. DUFF. Hamilton Taft. 

Mr. CHABOT. Oh, very good. Yeah, excellent. I am a La Salle 

Lancer, a proud La Salle Lancer which, since this is on camera, I 

will mention won the State Championship, Football State Champion; the last 2 years in a row; La Salle Lancers. ‘‘Lancers roll 

deep,’’ is what they say so—— 

Mr. DUFF. I wanted to give you that opportunity. 

Mr. CHABOT. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I am still 

not changing my opinion on cameras. 

Mr. DUFF. We will work on it. Thank you. 

Mr. ISSA. Recognizing myself as a Clevelander, there is a lot to 

be said about, you know, the camaraderie of southern Ohioans, the 

people who go to Kentucky to go to their airport. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, I will say that when I grew up in southern Ohio, 

we did not have the Bengals, so I was a Browns fan growing up. 

So—— 

Mr. ISSA. I was too until they went to Baltimore. Moving right 

along, you know, we have had a lot of discussion about cameras, 

but I want to close the camera discussion with two—hopefully, only 

two points. One is repeatedly you said we serve the litigants. 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ISSA. Would it be fair to say you serve the American people 

and, particularly, when you are dealing with criminal cases you 
47 

really represent, if someone is guilty, the victims, and if someone 

is innocent, then justice for the innocent? 

Mr. DUFF. Yes. 

Mr. ISSA. Which goes well outside the courtroom, does it not? 

Mr. DUFF. It goes beyond those participants, certainly. 

Mr. ISSA. So leaving civil cases, which are a big part of your caseload aside. 

Mr. DUFF. Right. 

Mr. ISSA. I want to touch on just one area, and like my brother 

and former—I am a former Ohioan, he is an Ohioan—but I have 

had that time with Chief Justice Roberts, and he is still as resolute 

as ever. But, I am going to appeal to something today that goes beyond that. 

Justice, when someone has committed a crime; justice, when 

someone goes up on appeal, is best served when the greatest 

amount of information is available to the victims, their families, 

and, of course, if appropriate, to the appellate court. And, I might 

suggest that there is an in between, if you will, cameras/no cameras. 

When someone proffers or, you know, admits their guilt—I am 

saying it wrong, but I do that once in a while—or when they are, 

in fact, going through the process of the jury coming back, finding 

them guilty, and going through the sentencing—two distinct 

phases—these events are often—many of the family attend, some 

of the friends; but, in fact, they are not captured in perpetuity. 

And, when 20 or 30 or 40 years later, someone who is on death 

row is saying, ‘‘But, I was not that bad,’’ those moments are lost 

forever, and the family or the police officer or a lawyer comes in 

and tries to explain to a parole board those terrible grievous, you 

know, events. I might suggest that the cases and the outcomes 

drive a lot of the question of, ‘‘Is there a reason to capture it?’’ 

I am from Southern California, and we have had video depositions as a mandate. You cannot get out of them under the local 

rules, and that has changed, I am sure, how people answer questions. But, it has also captured in a way that is usable as evidence. 

So, I might suggest that, as you go back and begin working with, 

not just the Chief Justice, who we have talked about here, but with 

all the judges, and ask the question of, should we not, at the soonest possible date, enhance the tools that remain in perpetuity for 

that 20, 30 years later when someone is, you know, trying to say, 

you know, ‘‘I did not really kill him,’’ so to speak. 

And, that value of those cases, and we are talking strictly criminal at this point; and the value, in some cases, for an appellate 

where somebody has said something and the visual is very powerful. So, I might suggest that there is some middle ground, just as 

the court was kind enough to work on the pilot in the ninth circuit, 

that we do not yet know what the value of capturing those certain 

aspects might be, and I have had the luxury of talking to a number 

of Federal judges around the country who have sort of brought that 

up—that they would love to have the tool to use when they would 

love to have the tool to use. You are nodding your head yes and 

we are capturing that on video so, I am hoping that is a good sign. 

Mr. DUFF. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will certainly continue 

to take a look at this issue. It is of importance to not only the 
48 

branch but to the American public, and we are stewards of their 

funds and, you are right. Everyone has an interest in the outcome 

of cases in some fashion. 

Mr. ISSA. I want to touch on just one thing that I want your 

input on. It is clear that social media is now affecting jurors in a 

way that it did not just a small part of a generation ago. How do 

you see the court being able to handle that, and are there additional tools necessary to keep a jury from being tainted under the 

circumstances of the proliferation of social media? 

Mr. DUFF. It is challenging. You have to be vigilant about it, and 

I do not know how it can be monitored entirely successfully. There 

have been issues that have arisen. I think, for the most part, we 

are doing a good job. 

Mr. ISSA. But you still have iPhones for lunch, so to speak. 

Mr. DUFF. Exactly, and so it is a challenge to us. We have to stay 

on top of it to preserve the integrity of the jury system, and we certainly are committed to doing that. 

Mr. ISSA. Well, and my follow up on that is jury pools are becoming more demanding. 

Mr. DUFF. Yes. 

Mr. ISSA. They are becoming demanding, both at the State and 

Federal. And, when you look at the makeup of these pools, disproportionately retirees, disproportionately government workers— 

do we have—at the Federal level—do you have the tools you need 

to get a jury of people’s peers, or are you getting a subset of this 

jury of people’s peers? Maybe fair and impartial, but certainly not 

the same cross-section of society as it would be if it were 100 percent at random? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, we are working on making certain that we do 

have the cross-section. We have added, and this goes to a point you 

made in your opening statement with regard to access and transparency. We have made it easier, we think, for jurors to be selected 

and chosen through our e-juror system. There are electronic mechanisms now to make that whole process work more smoothly. Can 

we do better? Sure, and we will work toward that. But, you are 

right. The challenges are greater today because of social media. 

Mr. ISSA. The income you receive from that 10 cents a page— 

from our looking, there is very little transparency as to where the 

money goes in excess of the operating costs. Do you want to go 

through, just for people watching here today, I think, how you feel 

that it is appropriate not to have those funds come back to the 

Congress for appropriations but, rather, be in funds controlled by 

your branch? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, the funds are intended to be put to use to improve the access to opinions and court records. And so, it is rolled 

back into the costs that we incur for improving systems to make 

these available to the public. And, we have certainly talked with 

our appropriators about it, and we will continue to do so. 

Mr. ISSA. Can you assure us today that all funds are used within 

that system, and that no funds are diverted to more general information? In other words, it is not printing pamphlets about how 

great the court is. It is strictly providing access to this information 

that, in fact, you are charging 10 cents a page for? 
49 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, sir. That is what we intend to use the funds for, 

is to support that system. And, you know, there are tangential 

issues that come up that we think are appropriate for the funds to 

be used for, but they all really focus around access to the information. 

Mr. ISSA. Now, there are a couple of more that are also perennial 

issues, and I want to go through them quickly. We mentioned in 

opening statements that we have had judges who, under the Constitution, had committed impeachable offenses. 

As you know, impeachment is lengthy, laborious and, as you also 

mentioned, we cannot take away a judge’s salary while he or she 

sits and says, ‘‘Nah, nah, nah. It will take you a long time to get 

rid of me, by which time I will be on disability or retired.’’ Do you 

have any proposals for any kind of a faster administrative remedy 

for clear and convincing misconduct, other than a constitutional 

change or an expedited impeachment? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, let me—— 

Mr. ISSA. And, this is just recognizing that judges are human 

beings, and out of any set of human beings, no matter how well 

chosen, some will be awful. 

Mr. DUFF. Let me address, I think, a very good and serious issue 

you have raised, with regard to conduct matters that come to our 

attention that are short of impeachable offenses, although some 

that have come to our attention we have referred to the Congress 

for impeachment proceedings. And, thankfully they are rare, but 

they happen. 

Mr. ISSA. Judges normally resign if they have done wrong, is one 

of the reasons that we have had so few in our history 

Mr. DUFF. I think that that speaks well to the review process we 

have, and you mentioned the time it takes, and we do want to— 

I would welcome meeting with you to elaborate on this even more 

with the Chairman of our Conduct and Disability Committee, 

Judge Scirica, and would welcome the opportunity to walk you 

through it, sort of a typical conduct review, some of which I am restrained from speaking about publicly because there are confidentiality requirements built into the statutes that give us authority 

to investigate allegations of misconduct, and we are not permitted 

to reveal publicly some of the aspects of that. 

But just speaking generically about that process, I think it is a 

very healthy and robust and thorough process that we have within 

the branch. And, I think it was Chairman Goodlatte who raised the 

matter in Alabama, where the judge did resign. From beginning to 

end in that particular matter, that took 1 year. And, you might 

say, ‘‘Well, why did it take that long?’’ Well, in that case, from the 

time the allegations surfaced—— 

Mr. ISSA. The timeline of 1 year, that is the timeline of the investigation, not the timeline from beating his wife to removal, is it? 

Mr. DUFF. I think—— 

Mr. ISSA. That was slightly longer. 

Mr. DUFF. I believe it was when it became public that he was 

arrested and then that was the issue, to the time of resignation 

was about a year. And, in the course of that, there was a thorough 

investigation. There were witness statements taken, and throughout—the process—if I can be brief about it and summarize it—from 
50 

the time a conduct complaint was filed, misconduct complaint was 

filed with the chief judge of the circuit, the chief judge of the circuit 

then brought it to the attention of the Judicial Council of that circuit, the Judicial Council of the circuit. Then there was created a 

special committee to review the matter within the circuit. 

The special committee reviewed it, made its recommendations to 

the Judicial Council of that circuit. Those judges then, and the 

chief judge of that circuit, made a recommendation to the conduct 

or to the Judicial Conference of the United States, which then referred it to its Conduct and Disability Committee, and it reviewed 

the matter. And then it, at that time, referred the matter to the 

full Judicial Conference of the United States. All in all, 54 judges 

were involved in the review of that conduct allegation. It ultimately 

resulted in the resignation of the judge. That took a year. 

Mr. ISSA. And, we verified. You are exactly right. It did take a 

year, so thank you for clarifying that. One quick follow-up on that, 

and then I think Mr. Cohen is going to ask a round of questions. 

Mr. DUFF. Sure. 

Mr. ISSA. The Constitution does not allow us to reduce the pay 

of a judge. But there is, as far as my reading, no prohibition on an 

ultimate reduction for someone terminated for cause. Effectively, if 

we passed a statute that required that, once someone went into an 

‘‘investigation,’’ that if that investigation led to their resignation or 

their dismissal through any number of procedures, including impeachment, that their retirement date would cease as of the date 

of the beginning of that crime or misconduct. 

In your opinion, would you say that that is not a diminishment 

or, if it was, we could certainly define retirement in a way that it 

would not be? And, I shared that with a number of judges, because 

one of our challenges has been individuals who choose to say, ‘‘I am 

going to be vested or vested at a higher level,’’ and they simply 

delay the tactic and that often leads to judges saying, ‘‘Well, why 

go through this, if he or she is going to be gone in 18 months?’’ 

That is a tool not presently available to you. 

Can you opine on whether you think that would be constitutional, or whether you would need a statute, and then still a constitutional challenge to, I guess, eight men and women? 

Mr. DUFF. I would like to study it a little more before—and I am 

not sure it is proper for me to speak to the constitutionality of it— 

but I would be very interested in working and talking with you 

about it. 

Mr. ISSA. And, we are going to go to Mr. Cohen, but I wanted 

to leave that public, because it would seem that it is a tool not 

available to you today. It would seem that the retirement system, 

different than the current pay, may well be one in which we could 

define that, ultimately, that, you know, we normally—we can suspend an employee, potentially without pay, in the executive branch. 

In Congress, we passed the statute after Randy Duke 

Cunningham, essentially, took bribes, that would make it possible 

to eliminate their retirement altogether for that crime, which he 

pled to. So, it is not that we are not doing it to ourselves. We are 

doing it to ourselves, but we lack such a tool currently. So, if you 

would study it, I would be happy to work with you, and at some 

future hearing, perhaps, bring it up again. 
51 

Mr. DUFF. I would be very happy to do so, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ISSA. Thank you. Well, and now we have the gentleman who 

represents Saint Jude and other important areas of Tennessee for 

his questions, Mr. Cohen. 

Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and, indeed, I am proud to 

represent Saint Jude and the Ninth District in Tennessee. The 

Ninth District of Tennessee has a district court judge that is pending in the United States Senate. President Obama nominated the 

present United States Attorney, Ed Stanton III, who has an impeccable record of an outstanding job as a United States Attorney, formerly a counsel with Federal Express, and in private practice as 

well, and an esteemed graduate of the University of Memphis Law 

School and an undergraduate. He is next on the list. 

Do you have any insight into what the Senate’s rationale is, and 

what they will do, as far as having more nominations come to a 

vote than have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 

and are pending the final vote in the Senate? 

Do you have any idea what their present perspective is? Are they 

limiting themselves by the number of people that were approved 

during Bush’s last year, or are they trying to help the Federal 

courts get judges who can then make the flow of cases proceed? 

Mr. DUFF. I do not know, Congressman Cohen, what their intent 

is from here, through the election. We continue to encourage and 

press for the vacancies that exist to be filled. And, there are some 

nominations pending and we want the vacancies filled. 

Mr. COHEN. There are 90, as I understand, vacancies with 59 

nominees pending. Some have been there for more than a year. I 

think Mr. Stanton has been there, obviously, the longest time, I 

think, because he is next in line. How has the lack of filling these 

vacancies affected the workload of the current judges and Federal 

district courts? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, vacancies have been with us for a long, long 

time. And, it is an issue that we work on with every Administration regardless of party. And, we push for getting those vacancies 

filled as best we can. This is not a new issue for us. 

Our workload, as I mentioned, that we are really beholden to, 

our senior judges for helping us absorb increased workload. If you 

look at the trends in the Federal courts over the last 50 years, the 

workload has gone up probably four-fold for the courts. And yet, we 

only have twice the number of judges that we had 50 years ago. 

Mr. COHEN. But let me ask you this, the administration of justice 

is being harmed by not passing and approving judges who have 

been approved by the Committee? Would that be an accurate statement? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, we do want the vacancies filled. Yes, sir. 

Mr. COHEN. Okay. And, let me ask you this—at one point, I 

think the rationale was that X amount of judges were approved in 

the last year of President Bush II and that—I think they have gone 

beyond it by one or two now. Do you know what the caseload vacancy was at that time? Or not the caseload vacancy, but the judicial vacancies? There are 90 vacancies now, do you know how many 

vacancies there were at that time? 

Mr. DUFF. Off the top of my head, I do not, Mr. Cohen. 
52 

Mr. COHEN. But, I believe there were a lot less. So, I think that 

is a better way to look at it is the harm to the judicial system and 

not just a raw number. And, I think it is an error. And, of course 

I would like him to approve Mr. Stanton and at least do one more. 

The issue has come up about television in the courtrooms. 

Mr. DUFF. Yes, sir. 

Mr. COHEN. And, as I understand it, you all have a pilot program, but you are not so much in favor of it. And, did you take a 

position, you did not think that should exist at the Supreme Court 

level? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, our pilot program really has nothing to do with 

the Supreme Court, we are—— 

Mr. COHEN. Well, I understand that, but did you take a position 

on the Supreme Court and cameras? 

Mr. DUFF. No, sir. 

Mr. COHEN. Okay. 

Mr. DUFF. The Supreme Court makes its own decisions about 

that. 

Mr. ISSA. I might note for the record that Chief Justice Roberts 

has not changed his adamant opposition. 

Mr. COHEN. And, I have great respect for Chief Justice Roberts. 

I have had the opportunity to have interchanges with him on several occasions, I respect him greatly, but I think he is flat wrong 

on this issue. I can see people being against it, thinking that in certain places that some lawyers might use it to, you know, act and 

maybe increase their client base, et cetera. 

But, I do not think that is going to happen at the Supreme 

Court. The government body, the three equal branches, they are 

not three equal branches. There is one big branch, and it is the Supreme Court. They make more of a difference in this country than 

the executive or the legislative, in my opinion. They decided Bush 

v. Gore, they decided Citizens United, they have got choice, they 

have got the Second Amendment, they have got—all the big issues 

are there, and they do it. 

And, the American public should be able to see the arguments, 

listen to the arguments, and see the responses and see the questioning. I have only been up there once. It was an edifying experience, and every American should have it, and you should not have 

to go over there and sit there and to watch it, it should be on CSPAN. I have no more time, so I will yield back the balance. 

Mr. ISSA. I thank the gentleman. Do you need more time? 

Mr. COHEN. No. 

Mr. ISSA. Okay. Mr. Duff, I want to not get you out of here without thanking you and all of those who work with you for the fact 

that the cost of courtrooms is high, the building security is high, 

and in the now 15 plus years since 9/11, a lot of demands have 

been placed on those building funds. 

And, I want to make it clear that the dozen or so billion dollars, 

which in Washington—everywhere else is a lot of money—in Washington it is amazing that the courtroom security, everything, and 

I recently dealt with one related to just getting the babysitting— 

if you will—into the Federal building in San Diego because, in fact, 

the place we had, which was secured, was being taken back by the 

city. And, there was a basic problem of, these are high targets and 
53 

how do you transport people who are targets between dropping off 

their child in one place and another? 

And, I think the American public does not fully appreciate the 

actual security requirements that you deal with every day. So, as 

a result, I am not spending a lot of time talking about your building funds, your construction, because I think that you—between 

the appropriators in this Committee—have been great and transparent. 

But, speaking of transparency, everyone up here on the dais fills 

out—and everyone in the executive branch at certain levels—fills 

out an incredibly detailed, but confusing, form for financial disclosure. And, it does not happen the same way in judicial branch. 

And, I want to know from you, can you find and give us any 

guidance as to why we should not mandate, if we cannot get voluntarily from the court, a similar level of transparency for the question of possible conflicts of interest? We understand that a judge’s 

job is to say, ‘‘Oh, I have this conflict, I own, you know, eight million shares of something belonging to somebody who is a litigant.’’ 

But, in fact, money flowing in and out is not necessarily that 

transparent sometime. And, I will take one example in my question 

from the public. I do not know who paid for trips by various justices and judges on a regular basis because it is not disclosed with 

the kind of transparency we have. And, my understanding is, there 

is much less limitation on who can pay for and have somebody be 

their guest speaker at a first class resort. So, would you touch on 

that? Because people pretty much understand the President’s disclosure—even candidates’ disclosures of their tax returns. They certainly can go online and see the outcome of our extensive requirement to provide information, not only as to our financial well-being, 

but disclosing every single individual stock trade within a very 

short period of time, for example. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, our judges do fill out financial disclosure reports 

as much as you do. There is a provision that permits when someone has sought access to the financial and wants to review the financial disclosure report, there is a period of time at which we 

alert the judge to that. So, there is an opportunity to review it, 

once again, for information that could be redacted that would put 

the judge in jeopardy or his family in jeopardy by disclosing certain 

locations—— 

Mr. ISSA. But in a nutshell, they file a financial report that is 

not public. If someone wants to review it, there is another round 

available to the judge prior to someone being able to see it and 

those redactions, in good faith, might be appropriate, but that is 

not the same as a Member of Congress buys 1,000 shares of Google 

today, it has to be reported. 

Mr. DUFF. Right. Well, those things are reported again, in the 

annual disclosure reports. I think the redaction period is only about 

a 30-day period. And, it was really implemented for security reasons for the judges. We have had more than one incident of judges 

and/or family members being killed. And so, we just have to—— 

Mr. ISSA. No, we understand the addresses, although our addresses are very public. But, one more follow-up on this to make 

it clear—if Judicial Watch asked for every single judges’ financial 

disclosures, so that the financial holdings in some range were 
54 

available, 30 days from now, would they be able to publish those 

on the internet so that everyone would know—— 

Mr. DUFF. I believe they do. I will check into that, but I believe 

they probably already do that. I think those are well-publicized. It 

may well be Judicial Watch who does that, but I would like to follow up on that if I might, Mr. Chairman, just so I am accurate 

about that. 

Mr. ISSA. Here is the last one—and this one I have voiced before 

the Judicial Conference once—we have a problem in Marshall and 

Tyler, Texas. Judges, by any stretch of the imagination, are abusing discretion to keep patent cases in vast numbers there. They do 

not transfer them, and they will not prioritize the motions to move 

them to a more appropriate venue, but rather, they go through discovery. 

It is good for Tyler, it is good for Marshall, it is good for the 

Chamber of Commerce, and your Federal judges are doing it. Not 

on an individual basis, but on a group basis. It has been going on 

for a decade; it is a growth industry. I am currently being asked 

to provide more judges to that district. 

Now, it will be a cold day in hell before I give more judges, at 

my authority to the extent that I have it, in any way shape or 

form, to an area that is abusing discretion and causing legislation—Chairman’s legislation—vastly bipartisan, the Ranking Member and others’—looking at legislation to try to stem misconduct 

within a district. 

So, my question for you today—and this was the question I have 

asked the Chief Justice and late Justice Scalia and others—if you 

have the power to do administrative—you can move cases, you can, 

in fact, speak to your brethren—and you have not been able to handle this—then why is it that it should be our problem and not your 

problem to fix it? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, you and I have had this conversation before, too. 

And—— 

Mr. ISSA. I got to tell you, I talk to everybody, because it is frustrating that Congress should even be looking at one district for its 

misconduct. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, if I may—— 

Mr. ISSA. And, misconduct is a word maybe misused, but the 

growth of these cases and the other judges around the country rolling their eyes about Tyler and Marshall in the Eastern District of 

Texas, it is not a—it is the most open secret there is on your side 

of government. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, if I might speak to it in a general sense, what 

the Judicial Conference through its rules committee has done most 

recently in this realm that may have some impact on it, although 

it may not address entirely concerns you have raised. 

But, we have tried to streamline litigation, make it more efficient 

with regard to motions, for example, the discovery periods, bringing 

those into certain bounds and limitations that move cases along 

more quickly and make it more—the consideration of motions to be 

moved along more quickly than they have been. 

Similarly, we eliminated some of the forms in the rules, the Civil 

Rules amendments in 2015. One of the forms eliminated was Form 

18, which was a form that was used for patent filings. And, it was 
55 

deemed to be no longer valuable and useful and perhaps did not 

give all the proper elements of a patent claim in the form itself. 

So, that form was abrogated. And so, we are taking a look at this, 

and the FJC is studying patent litigation and potential reforms. 

I think your institution and encouragement of the Patent Pilot 

Program—there are elements in the Patent Pilot Program that I 

think we can glean information from that may well help us address 

this more specific issue that you have raised today. And so, our 5- 

year report is due, as you know, because you—this was—you 

were—— 

Mr. ISSA. You are doing a great job of sucking up to the Chairman here. But, you know, the fact is that Patent Pilot was designed to recognize that judges could, in fact, move caseloads better; that we want judges that are knowledgeable. 

The challenge that we face today—and I am going to go to Mr. 

Johnson—but we also know that we want cases to be held—you 

know, we want them to either be where the plaintiff clearly has a 

logical nexus, the inventors, the et cetera; or where the defendant 

has a primary place of business. And, that is just a general rule, 

that when all there is, is a doughnut shop that is using a product 

by a manufacturer and it is in Tyler, Texas; that is not where the 

plaintiff or defendant is; not where the invention is; it is not where 

the witnesses are. 

And, it is frustrating because I have as you note—look, I have 

been both the plaintiff and the defendant in these cases, and I 

know how burdensome it is to move people to a completely inappropriate place. It is always burdensome to have it in the other guy’s 

place, but if it is going to be the other guy’s place, at least I want 

it to be appropriate other guy’s place. 

I appreciate your kindness and your working on it. We will continue to monitor it. It happens to be important to the Chairman of 

the full Committee and the Ranking Members, so I will keep bringing it up. 

Mr. DUFF. Sure. And, I do think the 5 year report that is due 

may address some of these issues, and we would hope to work with 

you on that. 

Mr. ISSA. And, I would note that there has been some progress 

on the caseloads reduction and transfer. So, it is not without some 

upside. Mr. Johnson, are you ready? The gentleman is recognized 

for 5 minutes. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, the 

Ranking Member, as well. And, this is a very important hearing. 

And, I thank the witness for appearing. As the senior Member of 

the House Judiciary Committee, I have long championed the issues 

of access to the courts for all citizens, not just the wealthy and the 

well-connected. Specifically, I have worked to ensure that every 

American has the opportunity to assert his or her right—a constitutional right under the Seventh Amendment—to a trial by jury. 

Over the last 15 years, we have witnessed repeated attacks 

against our judicial system; the courthouse doors have been shuttered, or threatened to be shuttered by legislative maneuvering, 

and highly politicized Supreme Court cases. 

Indeed, very limited funding, significant legislative reforms, 

paradoxical pleading standards created under Twombly and Iqbal, 
56 

an aging bench, and anti-litigation legislation here in Congress, 

makes me wonder how capable our venerated judicial system is at 

administering justice in the face of all these hurdles. 

In the 11th circuit alone, we have 11 vacancies, four future vacancies, and seven judicial emergencies. Furthermore, prosecutors 

and public defenders, at the State and Federal level, are facing significant funding cuts. To avoid layoffs, public defenders find themselves working unpaid cases, facing delayed compensation, or enduring furloughs. Advances to court technology have also taken a 

back seat, despite the fact that such measures are needed to make 

the courts more accessible. 

While this is in response to tightening budgets and sequestration, it has a corrosive effect of increasing court backlog and discouraging citizens from seeking redress through the courts. Rather 

than making the process more streamlined for the public, Americans face higher litigation costs, a confusing process, and longer 

wait times between proceedings. 

Instead of reaching a speedy resolution, citizens find themselves 

frustrated and disheartened by the legal system. And, I am glad 

that we have an opportunity today to hear how Congress can support the courts, give rights back to the people, and ensure everyone 

has the opportunity to have their proverbial day in court. 

Mr. Duff, while the Senate has grown famous for its stalling tactics in this year’s SCOTUS nomination, they also have a historically low confirmation rate for all Federal nominations—only 11 in 

2015. How does this appalling low confirmation rate, combined 

with an aging bench throughout the Federal judiciary, affect the 

court’s ability to administer justice? And, I think closely associated 

with that, is the rate of pay that we give to judges. I mean, they 

make less than a first-year associate at a major law firm, these 

days. Can you comment about that? 

Mr. DUFF. Well, you have raised a number of issues, and I will 

try to address them in order—and maybe reverse order, because I 

will remember them more easily, then. And, I want to thank you 

for your efforts in years past for our judges and the salary issue. 

You were a leader on that for us, and it was very much appreciated 

in the branch. 

With regard to vacancies, across Administrations, we have 

pressed for filling the vacancies where they exist. We need our 

judges to help us with the workload. You referred to, also, our 

aging bench. I would reiterate something we discussed a little bit 

earlier, which was our senior judges are the reason why we are 

keeping up with the workload to the extent that we are. 

We have a number of judges who are serving, who could retire 

and draw their salaries in retirement; as you know with the life appointment that is possible for our Federal judges. But many, if not 

most, stay on the bench even after they are eligible to retire. And, 

that has been an enormous service to the country and to the judicial branch. 

But, you have raised other challenges that we do wrestle with. 

I want to mention that after sequestration we have been very—I 

hesitate to use the word ‘‘favorably,’’ but certainly given very 

healthy budgets in the last three cycles. They are enabling us to 

pay defenders now where through sequestration we—that we had 
57 

to make cuts. We are very grateful to the Congress for the appropriations we have been given over the last 3 years. And, I think 

that is a reflection of recognition that we have been good stewards 

of public funds. And, if I might correct the Chair on something— 

I hesitate to do that, but—— 

Mr. ISSA. Oh, please, feel free. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, I would love to have a $12 billion budget, but ours is $7 billion. And, it may be that you were referring to courthouse construction projects and others that GSA gets funding for. 

Mr. ISSA. I was lumping all of it in. You know, some if it goes 

to those underpaid Federal judges. 

Mr. DUFF. But, we have been given healthier budgets in the last 

three cycles because, I think, our appropriators have recognized 

that we are efficient, which was the topic of this—of the hearing, 

the efficient administration of justice. 

And, we are grateful for that. Could we use more resources? 

Sure. Do we need the judges filled? Yes. The vacancies. Do we need 

more judgeships? And, we have focused on areas where there is an 

extraordinarily high caseload, and we have asked for more judgeships in some key districts around the country where the caseload 

is overwhelming to our judges. 

But, if I could speak to what the branch is doing to handle that 

within the branch, we are utilizing inter-circuit assignments of 

judges and intra-circuit assignment of judges to move judges whose 

workload may not be as heavy in some districts into courts where 

the workload is overwhelming. 

And so, we are trying to manage within the branch without getting more funding from Congress, and more judges, frankly. We are 

trying to manage within the branch the increasing workload. And, 

we do not have as many judges, workload-wise, as we did 50 years 

ago. If you look at the case trends and the growth in the cases in 

the Federal courts and the number of judges has not kept pace 

with that. 

But, we have become more efficient, and I am very proud of our 

judges and the staff for the hard work that they have put in 

around the country. But, you have raised serious issues and questions; they are ones that we take to our appropriators as we go 

through our budget process. 

Many of these issues are—you know, money does not solve everything, but there are areas where it is needed. We have asked for 

more, and the Congress has been responsive, for the most part. So, 

we are encouraged about that part of it. But, there are other elements that you have raised that we have a long way to go yet. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, the issue of judicial pay, if you would get a 

little bit further into that. Tell us what the lay of the land is in 

terms of judicial pay; how it incentivizes or disincentivizes good 

public service. 

Mr. DUFF. Well, our pay has been adjusted. The cost of living increases, that were denied over the past years, have been reinstated. And so, adjustments have been made that have made up for 

the lost cost of living adjustments. 

And so, the pay issue that you and I worked so hard on a few 

years back has been alleviated to a great degree. But, it is certainly 

an issue, I think, for public servants, generally. The rate of pay, 
58 

your salaries, are, I think, frankly, in need of review. And so, that 

is an issue that thankfully within the branch, because of the makeup on the lost COLAs, has been relieved somewhat. 

But it is important—as we have talked in years past—it is a very 

important incentive to get people into public service. People do not 

devote their careers to this to get wealthy, obviously. They are devoted public servants and they want to serve the country. 

But, to attract the best, you have to be at least competitive with, 

you know, the cost of living in an area of the country, certainly 

here and in major cities, that you can attract good people to the 

service. So, it is a very important element of public service, and I 

think it deserves consideration. It is not a time, of course, when 

that is going to get a lot of sympathy. 

I think the Chairman alluded in his opening remarks about the 

views of the public about our public service, generally, and the low 

regard the polls would indicate. We have got work to do to persuade the public that we are serving them well, and then we can 

look at the pay issue again, I think. But, not until. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you. I want to thank the Chair for being 

quite judicious with the—or more than judicious with the time for 

my questions. Thank you. 

Mr. ISSA. The gentleman’s questions were very appropriate. I 

thank the gentleman. In closing, I will recite from my prepared 

notes: ‘‘$13.29 billion is the budget, much of it not discretionary.’’ 

Obviously, you have pay, you have retirements in that. About 

less than half of it goes to the court operations as you would oversee it. And, I bring it up, actually, because it is so small. You are 

a very small branch of government, the total amount that is allocated, considering there is 320 million Americans, is small. 

And, I am going to close with a comment, but it is one that I 

want to make sure that is on the record: the growth of the use of 

the Federal court system, far beyond what it was ever intended to 

adjudicate, is part of the reason that we, today, spend a considerable amount of time talking about Federal judges; and the 90 or 

so vacancies, 31 not referred yet to the Senate, but the remainder 

who pend before the Senate. 

If we took every gun case, every car theft case, every civil suit 

that could be in State court, what we would discover is, the vast 

majority of that—other than immigration—considered by the 

court—and I am leaving bankruptcy and the specialties out—would 

in fact, not be there. 

As someone who has watched patent cases be put behind endless 

amounts of criminal cases, all of which are illegal in every State 

in the Union for crimes committed in a single State, what we discover is that we, in Congress, have, in fact, given you a growth opportunity that we have not fully funded, and are unwilling to fully 

fund. 

So, I might suggest, in closing, that a future hearing by this 

Committee, and a series of looks that go along with Chairman Sensenbrenner’s view, that we need to take a close look at why we federalize that which the States could do, while we ask our Federal 

judges to spend a great deal of their time reliving their time as 

D.A.s and State judges, rather than focusing on immigration, patent, true interstate activity, and other areas that would only be 
59 

possible to be tried in the Federal courts. That is sort of my talking 

point close. 

At this point, I would like to thank our witness for his very 

lengthy discussion, it has been very helpful. This does conclude today’s hearing. But, without objection, all Members, both present 

and not present, will have 5 legislative days to provide additional 

written material, and, with the indulgence of our witness, provide 

additional questions and follow-ups that you may be able to answer. 

Mr. DUFF. Happy to, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ISSA. I thank you. And, with that, we stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:32 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned 

subject to the call of the Chair.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

Response to Questions for the Record from James C. Duff, Director, 

Administrative Office of the United States Courts 
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