Oversight Hearing of the Federal Judiciary
House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
2025-05-14
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Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
of you combined represent over 60 years of federal civil service and we are grateful for your time. Special congratulations to you Judge Conrad on your recent retirement from district court work in North Carolina. As a former prosecutor, I know the American judicial system is a gold standard for fair, equal, and impartial treatment under the law. It is a critical part of our democracy and has been since our nation's founding almost 250 years ago. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that our partner branches of government have the tools they need to execute the duties of their office. Courthouses across the United States serve not only as a place of employment, but as a symbol of what makes our country great. But many of the courthouses need repair to keep pace with modern times. At the same time, the judicial system faces the reality of modern threats to both its physical and cybersecurity. Protests across the country have damaged federal property and threaten the safety and security of judges, officers, and staff who work every day to serve the American people. Countries like China and Russia focus their efforts on gaining access to the IT systems of the judiciary to undermine American democracy at its core. And now federal judges find their names in the news or on social media, and they are met with online vulgarity, in some cases, physical harm to them or their loved ones. As the judiciary's fiscal year 2026 spending plan reveals, it takes significant resources to operate the federal judiciary. We need to understand their priorities and resources how they're being deployed across its divisions and why. Judge St. Eve and Judge Conrad, let me again commend you on your leadership during these unique and challenging times. I look forward to working with you. I now recognize the ranking member for his opening statement.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Judge Conrad and Judge St. Eve for being with us and for the meeting we had, which was very helpful as a preface to this hearing. If the judiciary, Mr. Chairman, is to meet this pivotal moment and preserve the rule of law, we must ensure that it has the resources and independence it needs to function as a co-equal branch of government. That's why I'm very disturbed to see certain House Republicans call for retaliation against judges who rule on the law as they see it, but with which the present administration may disagree. Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan sent a letter asking this committee to limit funding the judiciary uses to issue and enforce injunctions. Other House Republicans have filed articles of impeachment against judges, not for any misconduct, but rather for ruling against the administration. Federal judges who block Trump's illegal executive actions are just trying to do their jobs and interpreting the law. That is their role, and that is critical to our democracy. Many were appointed by Republican presidents. Some were even appointed by Donald Trump himself. I agree with Chief Justice Roberts' assessment earlier this week that retaliation against them has to use his words, endangered the rule of law. You can't claim to stand for law and order when you threaten the independence of the branch responsible for upholding law and order. Some of my colleagues across the aisle agree, and I hope they'll stand up for the judiciary. Our subcommittee needs to ensure our courts receive the resources they need to fulfill their duties under the Constitution. Doing so is especially important considering the recent continuing resolution did not provide any funding increase for the judiciary in fiscal year 2025.
Six of the 11 judicial branch appropriations were funded at a freeze for a second year, meaning they were forced to continue operating at fiscal year 23 levels. For fiscal year 26, judiciary requested a 9.4 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of 800 million or 9.3% over the 25 continuing resolution. Most of that increase, however, some 68%, is just to offset inflation, while the rest is for programmatic reassessment. Failing to fulfill that request, would threaten the judiciary's ability to perform basic constitutional and statutory functions. I'm particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, about our federal public defender program. which has faced a severe staffing shortage and budget shortfall for years. As a matter of fact, we made a mistake in this committee and the Senate made a further mistake, which was corrected, which would have completely undermined the ability to perform the public defender service as is necessary. The judiciary has requested $1.77 billion for defender services, an increase, a substantial increase of $315 million or 22% over the fiscal year 25 CR. Again, a freeze at 23 levels. Without that funding, courts will struggle to ensure that Americans are provided their constitutional right to an attorney, a competent attorney. We also need to ensure that our courts can keep up with the increasing caseloads. That means following through on the request to increase funding for the Court of Appeals and district courts by $345 million, or 6%. And again, for the administrative office of the US courts, by $8 million, or 8% over the 25 CR.
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