Judiciary Budget Request, FY2020

Overview

The FY2020 judiciary budget request totals $8.29 billion. This total includes $7.62 billion in discretionary funds (an increase of 4.9% over FY2019), and $669.8 million in mandatory funding, which is used to pay the salaries and benefits of judges.

The judiciary also uses non-appropriated funds to offset its appropriations requirement. The majority of these non-appropriated funds are from the collection of fees, primarily court filing fees. The appropriation request reflects the net needs of the judiciary after use of these funds.

As a coequal branch of government, the judiciary presents its budget to the President, who transmits it to Congress unaltered, as part of his annual budget request. Appropriations for the judiciary are typically included in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. Appropriations for the judiciary comprise approximately 0.2% of total federal budget authority.

Table 1 presents the FY2020 discretionary request and FY2019 discretionary enacted level for each account.

Individual Accounts

Supreme Court

The total FY2020 discretionary request for the Supreme Court, $104.1 million, is contained in two accounts: (1) Salaries and Expenses ($87.7 million) and (2) Care of the Building and Grounds ($16.4 million). The total represents a 3.4% increase over the FY2019 enacted level.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

This court, consisting of 12 judges, has jurisdiction over and review of, among other things, certain lower court rulings on patents and trademarks, international trade, and federal claims cases. The FY2020 discretionary budget request is $33.0 million, a 3.0% increase over the FY2019 enacted level.

U.S. Court of International Trade

This court has exclusive nationwide jurisdiction over civil actions against the United States, its agencies and officers, and certain civil actions brought by the United States arising out of import transactions and the administration as well as enforcement of federal customs and international trade laws. The FY2020 discretionary request of $19.9 million is an increase of 5.6% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and Other Judicial Services

The total FY2020 discretionary funding request of $7,320.7 million covers 12 of the 13 courts of appeals and 94 district courts located in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The account is divided among salaries and expenses, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, court security, defender services, and fees of jurors and commissioners.

Salaries and Expenses

The FY2020 discretionary request for this account is $5,384.0 million, an increase of 4.7% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund

Established to address a perceived crisis in vaccine tort liability claims, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program funds a federal no-fault program that protects the availability of vaccines in the nation by diverting a substantial number of claims from the tort arena. The FY2020 request is $9.0 million, a 6.3% increase over the FY2019 enacted level.

Court Security

This account provides for protective services, security systems, and equipment needs in courthouses and other federal facilities to ensure the safety of judicial officers, employees, and visitors. Under this account, the majority of funding for court security is transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service to pay for court security officers under the Judicial Facility Security Program. The FY2020 request is $641.3 million, an increase of 5.6% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Defender Services

This account funds the operations of the federal public defender and community defender organizations, and compensation, reimbursements, and expenses of private practice panel attorneys appointed by federal courts to serve as defense counsel to indigent individuals. The cost for this account is determined by the number and type of prosecutions brought by U.S. attorneys. The FY2020 request is $1,234.6 million, an increase of 7.3% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Fees of Jurors and Commissioners

This account funds the fees and allowances provided to grand and petit jurors, and compensation for jury and land commissioners. The FY2020 request is $51.9 million, an increase of 4.2% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC)

As the central support entity for the judiciary, the AOUSC provides a wide range of administrative, management, program, and information technology services to the U.S. courts. AOUSC also provides support to the Judicial Conference of the United States, and implements conference policies and applicable federal statutes and regulations. The FY2020 request for AOUSC is $96.9 million, an increase of 4.9% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Federal Judicial Center

As the judiciary's research and education entity, the Federal Judicial Center undertakes research and evaluation of judicial operations for the Judicial Conference committees and the courts. In addition, the center provides judges, court staff, and others with orientation, continuing education, and training. The center's FY2020 request is $30.7 million, an increase of 3.1% over the FY2019 enacted level.

United States Sentencing Commission

The commission promulgates sentencing policies, practices, and guidelines for the federal criminal justice system. The FY2020 request is $19.3 million, an increase of 1.6% over the FY2019 enacted level.

Mandatory Funding

Mandatory funding in the judiciary budget includes constitutionally required funding for the salaries and benefits of Article III judges, as well as statutory direct spending for the salaries and benefits of certain Article I judges. Table 2 presents the FY2020 mandatory request and FY2019 enactment for each account.

Context of FY2020 Budget Request

Prior to the enactment of full-year FY2019 appropriations, the judiciary made assumptions to construct its FY2020 budget request that was transmitted to Congress on March 11, 2019. These assumptions are described in the full FY2020 Congressional Budget Justification. Additionally, the judiciary stated its intention to update its FY2020 budget request after full-year FY2019 appropriations were enacted (which occurred in February 2019) and, if considered necessary, to transmit to the appropriations committees any changes to its FY2020 appropriations request. Consequently, the FY2020 amounts reported above might not reflect the judiciary's final FY2020 request.