Fiscal Cliff Could Endanger Access to Federal Courts

© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.

By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook

Federal judges in Texas are sounding the alarm: if Congress and the president don’t reach a budget deal, it could have devastating effects on people’s access to the court system and the administration of justice.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, or so-called sequestration, will require the federal courts to slash $550 million – or eight percent – from its $7 billion annual spending plan.

The problem, according to judges, is that the federal courts are already lean and have no place to cut other than basic services. As a result, civil jury trials could be put on hold and jurors might not get paid. Clerks, court staff, security, probation officers and federal defenders could be furloughed or laid off. Court-appointed lawyers might not get paid. Court officials have not ruled out having to close down the courthouse one day a week.

“We are truly in angst because we are looking at the real danger of not being able to perform to the standard that is required,” says U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn of Dallas. “We are talking about cuts that pose a danger to the fundamentals of our democracy.

Judge Lynn and others say that the federal courts have aggressively focused on cost containment during the past decade. As a result, there is no fat left to cut.

“Sequestration is going to have a gigantic negative impact on the federal courts,” says Senior U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson of Dallas, who is president of the Federal Judges Association. “Even thought the judiciary is the third and equal branch of our government, the budget for the entire federal court system is less than two-tenths of one percent of the federal budget.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez of San Antonio, who sits on the Judicial Resources Committee, says that sequestration could require the courts to furlough all stay for up to 18 days, which would essentially shutdown the courthouse.

“The long-term projection is even worse,” says Judge Rodriguez. “In three years, the cuts will have us operating at 2006 budget levels, even though our caseloads are going up.”

Richard Anderson, the Federal Public Defender in Dallas, says that he will be forced to either layoff a handful of the 40 lawyers and support staff on his team or furlough all of them for one month.

“Most of my staff cannot afford that kind of pay cut and they will leave,” says Anderson. “There’s a lot of static white noise about raising taxes and cuts to Social Security or Medicare, but there’s been no discussion of how this will directly impact people’s access to the court system.”

Judge Lynn points out that probation officers and pretrial officers will be cut, which means that there will be no one to monitor the non-violent offenders to make sure they are being treated for alcohol addiction, drug abuse or mental health problems. The result is that many of those offenders will falter, be re-arrested and placed in jail, which would be multiple times more expensive than the costs of the probation officer’s salary.

“If you furlough the garbage collectors, no one is surprised when the garbage starts piling up because it doesn’t get collected,” says Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. “These cuts are going to have the same impact on the federal courts. The cuts will cause a slow down in the docket, cases will not be handled as quickly and we will see a suspension of jury trials.

“The courts are not the source of excessive spending – we are not the GSA (General Services Administration),” says Judge Higginbotham. “We don’t have a lot of places to cut without eliminating services.”

© 2012 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.