Published on: Thursday, December 31, 2020

Today, the Chief Justice of the United States released the 2020 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary. In the report, Chief Justice John Roberts compared the often heroic efforts to keep the federal judiciary functioning this year to those employed by the nation's federal courts in 1790 and thereafter.

Roberts noted that the first Supreme Court justices had to conduct trials all over the country, even as an influenza outbreak was spreading. Chief Justice John Jay, upon arriving in Hartford, Conn., noted that "almost every family here is down with the influenza — some old people have died with it." Three years later, Jay had to adjourn the court from sitting in Philadelphia due to a yellow fever epidemic that killed 5,000 of the city's 50,000 residents.

The Chief Justice applauded district courts in particular, saying that “the ‘first to fight’ in the judicial family” bore the greatest burden in responding to the pandemic and "faced the biggest challenge." Federal district court judges, among other things, preside over criminal and civil trials. They and their staffs handle the biggest caseload in the federal system, and are responsible for many other functions, from arraigning defendants to sentencing them, to allowing some of those behind bars to leave if they are eligible, because of the especially dangerous conditions in prison during the pandemic. These judges "have had to work out how to carry on their vital functions consistent with the best available public health guidance."

District courts also “deal most directly with people—lawyers, of course, but also litigants, witnesses, jurors, court reporters, probation and pretrial services officers, interpreters, security personnel, and members of the public who have important rights of access to proceedings,” the chief justice wrote.

Federal criminal-defendant filings dropped 20%, to 73,879, in keeping with an overall drop in most kinds of crime since the pandemic began.

Defendants charged with immigration offenses, who accounted for 32% of total filings, were down by one-quarter. That resulted “largely in response to a 70 percent reduction in defendants accused of improper entry by an alien,” the report said.

Drug crime filings fell by 17%, firearms and explosives charges by 13% and fraud accusations by 27%, the chief justice’s report said, while bankruptcy court filings fell 21%, to 612,561.

In conclusion, the Chief Justice stated he is "privileged and honored to thank all of the judges, court staff, and other judicial branch personnel throughout the Nation for their outstanding service."

This year's report focused entirely on the federal courts amid the pandemic. For reports from previous years since 2000, visit the Supreme Court reports archive.