Aside from an oblique reference to “critical needs of the judiciary” that “remain to be addressed,” the chief justice’s 2009 report focused on demonstrating that the federal courts remained busy and effective.
“When the political branches are faced with so many difficult issues, and when so many of our fellow citizens have been touched by hardship,” the chief justice wrote, “the public might welcome a year-end report limited to what is essential: The courts are operating soundly, and the nation’s dedicated federal judges are conscientiously discharging their duties.”
The chief justice’s description of the shifting docket of the federal courts reflected some of those difficulties and hardships. Most strikingly, bankruptcy petitions shot up to 1.4 million in 2009, up 35 percent from the previous year. There were increases in 93 of the 94 federal judicial districts. “Nine districts experienced increases of 60 percent or more,” Chief Justice Roberts said.
Cases involving consumer credit outside the bankruptcy system rose, too, by 53 percent. This was, the chief justice wrote, “fueled in part by the current economic downturn, particularly in the nation’s most populous districts.”
Criminal case filings rose 8 percent, to 76,655. That was the biggest number since 1932, the year before the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. In that year, 92,174 cases were filed, many of them for alcohol-related offenses.
With the exception of charges concerning marijuana, the number of drug cases fell last year. So did the number of gun cases. But cases involving immigration crimes climbed to record levels. The number of defendants charged with immigration crimes, mostly relating to improper re-entry by immigrants or the misuse of visas and entry permits, rose 19 percent, to 26,961.
Almost 90 percent of the immigration cases were filed in the southwestern United States.
The federal trial courts’ civil docket grew by 3 percent. Much of the increase was a consequence, the chief justice wrote, “of a national increase in personal injury cases related to asbestos.” Most of those cases were filed in the Federal District Court in Philadelphia.
The federal appeals courts, on the other hand, saw a 6 percent drop in filings. The chief justice said the decline came mainly from a decrease in cases involving the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The number of appeals filed in the Supreme Court dropped, too, to 7,738 from 8,241. Some of the decline may be attributable to the very long odds of obtaining Supreme Court review. The court issued 74 signed opinions in the term that ended in June, up from 67 in the previous term.
Those numbers suggest that an appeal to the Supreme Court has about a 1-in-100 chance of being heard.
“One case from the 2008 term,” the chief justice blandly noted, “was reargued later that term.” He was referring to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a major campaign finance case that was argued for a second time in September. The court surprised many election law specialists by closing up shop for the year without deciding the case.
The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, part of which is at risk in the case, requires the court “to expedite to the greatest possible extent” challenges to the law.
In 2003, the court quickly decided a much more complicated case under the law, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. That case was also argued in September; it was decided by early December.
The decision in the Citizens United case could arrive as soon as the
second week of January.