A free public database launched Monday listing federal judges' financial disclosure and periodic transaction reports, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced. Judge Thomas Aquilino was the only member of the Court of International Trade to have a financial disclosure report in the database, with his covering calendar year 2021. At the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Judges Todd Hughes, Richard Linn, Haldane Mayer, Jimmie Reyna, Alan Lourie and Raymond Clevenger submitted financial disclosure reports for 2021. The database was developed by the AO and completed before the Nov. 9 deadline set by the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act.

Plans to update the federal court system's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (Pacer) service include enhanced search functionality such as unified search capability and search technology that's cloud-based and "both intuitive and user-friendly," Rosslynn Mauskopf, U.S. Courts Administrative Office director, wrote lawmakers on Oct. 19. The new search capabilities will allow record searches from a central repository crossing court boundaries, eliminating the need to search for records at each individual federal court, Mauskopf said. The unified search capability also will enable full text searches and searches by judges’ names. "The new search technology will be both easy to use and free for non-commercial users," she said. However, the Open Courts Act "may unduly constrain the effort we have underway," Mauskopf said, noting Congressional Budget Office opinions that eliminating Pacer fees will cost the Judiciary $1 billion over a 10-year period.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit posted the cases it will hear when it sits in Philadelphia as part of its November session, the court announced Oct. 14. The court will hear cases Nov. 1 and 2 at the law schools of Villanova University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. On Nov. 3, the court will seat two panels at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, one panel in ceremonial courtroom, the other in courtroom 6A.

Judge Stephen Vaden never sought his nomination to the Court of International Trade. Rather, during a trip to San Francisco while serving as general counsel to USDA, he got an intriguing phone call. Using his deductive powers, Vaden knew the call could only have originated from one place: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Walking on the streets of San Francisco, he waited until he could slip back into his hotel to take the call, because who takes a call from the White House on the street?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be closed on both Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25, for Thanksgiving, the court said in an Oct. 4 order. Nov. 25 will be considered a "legal holiday" for the purposes of computation of time and motions to enlarge time under the Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure and Federal Circuit Rule 26, the court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 30 appointed new members to the court's Advisory Council. Chief Judge Kimberly Moore added Eldora Ellison, director at Sterne Kessler; Michelle Klancnik, assistant general counsel at the International Trade Commission; Roman Martinez, partner at Latham & Watkins; and Sonal Mehta, partner at WilmerHale, to the council. Each appointee will serve a three-year term commencing Oct. 1, the court said. The Advisory Council reviews, studies and makes recommendations on the court's rules of practice and internal operating procedures while also serving as a conduit between the public and the court over its procedural rules, the court said.

A bill that would make searches free on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service is estimated to add $77 million to the federal deficit from 2022 to 2032, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report.

The Court of International Trade in a pair of administrative orders extended both the preliminary injunction enjoining liquidation of unliquidated entries subject to the massive Section 301 litigation and the order telling the U.S. to refund duties should the Section 301 plaintiffs be successful in unassigned Section 301 challenges. In July 2021, the court temporarily suspended liquidation of the subject imports. Judge Mark Barnett extended this order via an administrative order to unassigned Section 301 cases.

The Judicial Conference of the U.S., the federal court system's policymaking body, extended the pandemic-era exception to its broadcasting policy by another 120 days, following President Joe Biden's move to end the emergency conditions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy allows the use of teleconferencing to enable the public and media members to listen in on civil and bankruptcy court proceedings while access to the courthouse is restricted.

The Senate on Sept. 20 voted to confirm Judge Florence Pan to fill now-Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson's spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The vote was 52-42 in favor of confirmation, with six senators not voting. The vote split largely along party lines, though three Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in voting for the judge. Pan was elevated to the court after previously serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The vote marks the second time Pan has filled a seat left vacant by Brown-Jackson, after the justice left the D.C. District Court to join the D.C. appellate court. With her confirmation, Pan becomes the first Chinese-American to serve on the key appeals court panel.