In determining judgeship needs in the U.S. district courts, the Judicial Conference uses weighted filings as a means of accounting for differences in the time required for judges to resolve various types of civil and criminal actions. Rather than counting each case as a single case, weights are applied based on the nature of cases. For example, cases involving a defaulted student loan are counted as 0.031 for each case and patent cases are counted as 1.9 cases. The criminal weights are applied on a per-defendant basis. In the courts of appeals adjusted filings are used in a similar manner to weighted filings in the district courts.
Adjusted filings eliminate reinstated cases and weight pro se appeals as one-third of a case.
All other cases have a weight of one.