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Reports & Studies

Below is a list of a number of past published studies conducted by the Research Division. Some Center reports are not published or made publicly available due to restrictions in place from the source of the research request. Most research reports can be downloaded and in some instances, a hardcopy publication can be requested. See also Manuals, Monographs, & Guides.

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Condensed Report on 2023 Federal Judiciary Workplace Survey

This condensed report presents a detailed summary of the results of the 2023 Workplace Survey for the Federal Judiciary, which was conducted by the Federal Judicial Center for the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group. Center staff prepared this report at the Working Group’s request to provide context for the Working Group’s recommendations stemming from the survey results. The survey obtained information on the number of employees who said they had experienced wrongful conduct and input about how well the procedures for addressing wrongful conduct are working. It also obtained information about the judiciary’s general working environment to inform the Working Group about the judiciary’s progress toward the goal of its Strategic Plan, updated in 2020, to provide an “exemplary workplace free from discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and abusive conduct,” where all employees are treated with dignity and respect.

March 31, 2025
United States District Courts’ Local Rules and Procedures on Electronic Filing by Self-Represented Litigants

This report compiles local rules and procedures in the ninety-four district courts on electronic filing by self-represented litigants. More than two thirds of the courts permit self-represented litigants to use the court’s electronic filing system at least on a case-by-case basis. Twenty-nine courts (31%) generally prohibit electronic filing by self-represented litigants. The Northern District of Texas generally requires it. Ten other courts (11%) generally permit it. The remaining fifty-four courts (57%) permit self-represented litigants to request permission to use the electronic filing system.

February 20, 2025
Redaction of Non-Government Party Names in Social Security and Immigration Case Documents

At the request of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM), the Federal Judicial Center completed a study of unredacted non-government party names in Social Security and immigration case documents.

February 4, 2025
Default and Default Judgment Practices in the District Courts

This report summarizes the actual practices of district courts regarding entry of defaults and default judgments pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55.

October 18, 2024
Enhancing Efforts to Coordinate Best Workplace Practices Across the Federal Judiciary

This report, and the study on which it is based, were undertaken pursuant to a House Committee Recommendation to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The recommendation directed the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) to contract with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), entering into an independent partnership to assist the FJC in its efforts to conduct workplace surveys of the judiciary, collect and analyze organizational process and employment engagement data, and coordinate best workplace practices across the judiciary. The recommendation also directed that the study explore options to institutionalize such capacity within the judiciary to ensure continued and consistent attention to matters of workplace misconduct in the future.

July 17, 2024
Unredacted Social Security Numbers in Federal Court PACER Documents

This study examines unredacted social security numbers and individual taxpayer identification numbers, collectively referred to as “SSNs,” in federal court documents available in the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service. The study was conducted at the request of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM).

May 30, 2024
Local-Counsel Requirements for Practice in Federal District Courts

This report, which was prepared for the standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure’s subcommittee on attorney admissions, summarizes when and where federal district courts require local counsel to participate in litigation and attorney admissions to the district courts’ bars.

April 24, 2024
Fees for Admission to Federal Court Bars

This report, which was prepared for the standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure’s subcommittee on attorney admissions, summarizes fees charged for admission to federal court bars, including admission fees, pro hac vice fees, and fees charged by state and territory bars for certificates of good standing.

March 4, 2024
Evaluation of the Interim Recommendations from the Cardone Report

This report evaluates the implementation of the interim recommendations made by the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act, appointed by the Chief Justice, in its 2017 report. The 35 interim recommendations called for changes in the administration of the Criminal Justice Act to improve the independence of the defense function while the Ad Hoc Committee’s final recommendation—an independent Defender Commission within the judicial branch of government, but outside the oversight of the Judicial Conference—was considered. Drawing from defender program information as well as newly collected data, the evaluation considers the implementation of the recommendations and the extent to which implementation addresses the concerns with the administration of federal public defense identified by the Ad Hoc Committee.

September 18, 2023
Federal–State Court Cooperation: Surveys of U.S. District and U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judges and State and Territorial Chief Justices and Court Administrators

This report updates the findings of a 2016 survey of U.S. chief district judges regarding their past, current, and future plans for cooperation with the state courts, as well as their use of state–federal judicial councils as a forum for communication between the courts. This new report includes chief judges of the U.S. courts of appeals, chief justices and court administrators for state/territorial supreme courts, and chief judges of the U.S. district courts.

May 31, 2023

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