In late October and early November, courts in New York, New Jersey and other Eastern Seaboard states were shut down by Super Storm Sandy. This account, by Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska, describes the challenges faced by the Southern District of New York in putting its courts back in order.
Every four years, U.S. courts play a little-known role to help ensure that the Electoral College votes are received in Washington and properly counted.
Former Senator Evan Bayh and Senator Richard Lugar were recognized for their service to the federal Judiciary by the judges from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
The Western District of Washington hosted a multi-district, multi-agency emergency preparedness summit this summer, bringing together representatives from the federal courts, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service, and other government agencies.
A new federal courthouse was dedicated last month in downtown Billings, Montana. The District of Montana’s court family, guests, and invited speaker, Administrative Office Director Judge Thomas Hogan officially opened the courthouse, which replaces an aging facility with significant security and asbestos problems.
Congress has passed and the President is expected to sign into law, H.R. 5512, the Divisional Realignment Act of 2012. The legislation, introduced in May, realigns divisions in the U.S. District Courts in the Eastern District of Missouri and the Northern District of Mississippi.
Two programs organized each summer by the U.S. District Court for the District Massachusetts teach Boston area high school and college students about the federal judiciary. In the process, the students are helped to discover their own potential.
On August 30, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania held a town hall in Pittsburgh, PA, introducing attorneys to a new pilot program aimed at expediting the relatively simple cases on the court’s civil docket.
UPDATED: August 30, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. – In the Southern District of Alabama, the federal courthouse will be closed Wednesday, August 29, 2012, due to the effects from Tropical Storm Isaac. Normal operations will resume on Thursday, August 30, 2012.
In July, the District of Maryland was the first court to throw away the paper in processing petty offenses, linking their Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system with the Central Violations Bureau (CVB), the national center charged with processing citations issued and payments received for petty offenses committed on federal property.
