As noted earlier, the federal judiciary consists of the U.S. Supreme Court, 12 regional circuit courts of appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 94 district courts, 90 bankruptcy courts, as well as courts of special jurisdiction. The 94 federal judicial districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, and each circuit has a court of appeals. Fig. 1 shows the areas that comprise the 12 regional circuits, which include the First through Eleventh circuits and the District of Columbia circuit. In addition, the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court are located in Washington, D.C. The 12 regional circuit courts of appeals hear challenges to decisions made by district courts located within their respective circuits. Unlike trial courts, which determine the factual issues in a case and apply legal principles, in most situations, appellate courts determine only whether the lower courts correctly applied the law. There are no juries or witnesses in appellate courts. Rather, parties generally file written briefs and may present oral arguments to a panel of three judges focusing on the questions of law in a case. The court of appeals decision is usually the final word on a case, unless it sends a case back to the trial court or the case is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. In some cases, a decision may be reviewed “en banc,” that is, by a larger group of appellate judges— typically all of the appellate judges in a particular circuit. Appellate caseloads vary by regional circuit, and most appeals filed are decided based upon written briefs as opposed to oral arguments. Appendix II provides information on case filings per regional circuit for fiscal year 2015. Appellate judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve in a federal judicial circuit. There are 179 authorized federal appellate judgeships nationwide, with each circuit having a statutorily authorized number of such judgeships. Appellate judges have life tenure and may retire on salary if they meet certain requirements; however, according to AOUSC, many appellate judges who are eligible to retire decide to continue to hear cases on a full- or part-time basis as “senior judges.” Appendix II provides information on the number of authorized appellate judgeships per circuit, as well as the current number of actual judges. Each regional circuit court of appeals has a courthouse that serves as the headquarters where appellate judges and staff conduct the business of the court, including preparing for and hearing oral arguments. Circuit headquarters house appellate courtrooms and judges’ chambers suites, as well as circuit libraries, court clerk’s offices, circuit executive’s offices, staff attorney’s offices, and other judiciary components. Some appellate courthouses are shared with other courts, such as the district or bankruptcy courts, while others exclusively house the U.S. Court of Appeals for a specific circuit. Most circuit headquarters house some appellate judges whose resident location coincides with the circuit headquarters—in what is commonly known as resident chambers. However, circuit headquarters also include visiting judges’ chambers—commonly known as non-resident chambers—for other appellate judges who must travel from their resident location to hear oral arguments. In addition to a circuit’s headquarters, some circuits have courthouses and other space within the circuit where appellate judges may have chambers and where judges and circuit officials conduct the business of the courts, including preparing for appellate proceedings and hearing oral arguments. Governance of the judiciary is decentralized, and individual courts have discretion to organize operations, develop procedures, and make budgetary decisions within allotted funds to suit local needs. At the regional level, circuit judicial councils exercise administrative authority over all the federal courts within a circuit, and the circuit judicial council’s meetings provide a forum for judges and court staff to discuss the administration of federal justice within a circuit. At the national level, the Judicial Conference of the United States (Judicial Conference), presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States, is the judiciary’s principal policy making body. The Judicial Conference is supported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), which is responsible for administering the federal judiciary’s budget as well as performing other programmatic and administrative functions, such as paying the judiciary’s rent bill to GSA from its annual appropriations from Congress. GSA manages real property for many federal agencies, as well as for the judiciary, and has a large inventory of federally owned and leased properties. GSA manages its inventory via 11 regional offices and the central office, located in Washington, D.C. GSA works with AOUSC and judicial circuits in addressing courthouse space needs and issues. In this role, GSA, in consultation with the judiciary, enters into lease agreements on behalf of the judiciary, executes major repair and alteration projects at existing courthouses and federal buildings in the federal inventory, and when necessary is responsible for managing construction of new courthouses. When the judiciary determines it no longer needs space in a courthouse or office building, it may return space to GSA, assuming the space meets certain criteria, such as marketability of the space, and subject to approval by GSA. Assuming the space is eligible for return in federally owned properties, GSA will assume responsibility for the space and determine plans for the space. Federal entities that operate in facilities under the control and custody of GSA are required to pay rent for space they occupy. The federal judiciary is among GSA’s largest federal tenants and leases more space in federally owned buildings than any executive or legislative branch agency. GSA also leases space for the judiciary in private office buildings, as needed. Figure 2 illustrates the distribution of space, based on rentable square feet and rent costs, for the federal judiciary in fiscal year 2015. GSA uses “rentable square feet” to measure space occupied by federal tenants for billing purposes, as well as for annual reporting. According to GSA, rentable square feet represent space that is available for a tenant to occupy, plus common areas such as restrooms, lobbies, and hallways. In recent years, the judiciary has undertaken a rent validation initiative to ensure the rent the judiciary is paying to GSA for space occupied is accurate. As part of this effort, the judiciary has worked with GSA to review building plans and space assignment drawings—and compare them with space occupied by the judiciary in federally owned buildings. The appellate judges and officials we spoke with in the 12 regional judicial circuits and 11 GSA regional offices identified the following policies as essential in helping to guide appellate space-use decisions, as well as other court-related space decisions circuit-wide: U.S. Courts Design Guide (Design Guide): The Design Guide specifies the judiciary’s criteria for designing court facilities and sets the space and design standards that GSA uses for courthouse construction and renovation. Judicial staff with whom we spoke said the Design Guide is considered the authoritative source for criteria on designing new courthouses and for major renovations of existing space, including for appellate courtrooms, judges’ chambers, and circuit libraries. The Design Guide was recently revised to include a chapter on Alternative Workplace Strategies, which provides alternative designs that could result in more efficient use of office space compared with traditional office and cubicle layouts. This chapter of the Design Guide applies to court staff office space throughout the federal judiciary, such as Court of Appeals Clerk’s and Circuit Executive’s offices. National space reduction policies: The Judicial Conference approved several space reduction initiatives to reduce future space and facilities costs in 2013. For example, the Judicial Conference set a national space reduction target in 2013, which aims to reduce the federal judiciary’s total space by 3 percent by the end of fiscal year 2018, as measured in usable square feet. According to GSA, usable square feet is defined as the space that is available for a tenant to occupy. The judiciary uses “usable square feet” to measure the space it occupies for its national space reduction policies, as well as for reporting its progress toward these goals. The national target has been prorated among the circuits based on the usable square feet occupied by each as of the beginning of fiscal year 2013, taking into consideration the amount of square footage allotted to the circuit under the current version of the Design Guide. In addition, the Judicial Conference adopted a “No Net New” policy in 2013, which is a national policy that requires circuits to offset any increases in square footage by an equivalent reduction in square footage identified within the same fiscal year. According to officials with whom we spoke, while the national 3 percent space reduction policy will sunset in fiscal year 2018, the No Net New policy will be in effect for the foreseeable future. Table 1 provides examples of policies and processes that appellate judges and judicial officials said help guide their appellate space-use decisions. In addition, the judiciary has also put in place initiatives to reduce future space growth and facilities costs, such as the Integrated Workplace Initiative (IWI) which provides options for court units to reconfigure and reduce space, including work space sharing and mobile working situations. The objective of IWI is to reduce the judiciary’s footprint by taking advantage of the flexibility that technology allows, while creating a more efficient work environment. In addition, these projects are designed so that future increases in staff could be accommodated by increased mobility rather than space expansion. According to AOUSC, IWI is similar to efforts to implement shared workspaces in the private sector and across the executive branch. Governance of the judiciary is decentralized and appellate space-use decisions are generally made by appellate courts in conjunction with each circuit’s judicial council—which determines the need for all space accommodation within a circuit—in coordination with the Circuit Executive’s office. Within the circuit executive’s office, most circuits have an Assistant Circuit Executive (ACE) for Space, who works with the circuit judicial council, judges, and courts personnel to help them realize their space requests. In many cases, decisions about space use originate from requests from individual court units or judges.