Tag Archives: federal courts

News From Here And There – Update for November 6, 2025

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

FEDERAL SHORTS

Bang, Bang: Remember the Bureau of Prisons correction officer who pursued a suspicious BMW parked at MDC Brooklyn through city streets back in September 2023, finally opening fire on the fleeing car at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge (and hitting one of the malefactors in the back)?

Last week, the officer, Leon Wilson, was convicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York of depriving the man he shot of his civil rights, as well as an 18 USC § 924(c) offense for using a gun in a crime of violence.

Wilson, who had no arrest authority except on MDC property, faces a mandatory 10-year sentence for the § 924(c) violation.

The New York Times reported that, “Outside the courtroom after the verdict, Mr. Wilson was emotional. He said he had not reported the incident because he was “traumatized,” and that he thought someone had escaped from the jail.”

The people in the car were trying to drop off cigarettes and cellphones to be smuggled into the facility.

New York Times, Guard is Convicted of Pursuing Jail Smugglers and Firing at Them (October 28, 2025)

Do As We Say, Not As We Do: Federal judges have excoriated and fined lawyers for filing AI-generated motions and briefs full of false quotations and case citations.

Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee is taking aim at judges who do the same.

Two federal judges in New Jersey and Mississippi admitted last month that their offices used artificial intelligence to draft factually inaccurate court documents that included fake quotes, mangled facts and even fictional litigants — drawing a rebuke from the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this from any federal court,” Sen Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a Senate floor speech last week.

The Committee revealed the week before that Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi and Julien X. Neals of the District of New Jersey admitted that their offices used AI in preparing the mistake-laden filings in the summer.  In true form, the judges blamed someone else, attributing the mistakes to a law clerk and a law school intern, respectively.

Grassley demanded that courts establish rules on AI use in litigation. “I call on every judge in America to take this issue seriously and formalize measures to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence in their chambers,” he said.

Washington Post, Federal Judges Using AI Filed Court Orders with False Quotes, Fake Names (October 29, 2025)

Beaten Inmate Gets Paid:  A federal judge last week found that an incarcerated, self-represented Florence ADX prisoner should be compensated $10,000 by the government for a BOP prison guard’s unwarranted use of force.

After a five-day bench trial in which the inmate represented himself on his Federal Tort Claims Act complaint, Senior District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson determined the prisoner had successfully proven one of his three battery claims, that he was slammed into a wall by the officer in a 2018 incident, suffering psychological damage from the encounter.

Being slammed into a wall “has had a profound and lasting negative impact on him. In 18 years prior to the incident in (prison) custody, Mr. Mohamed had no suicide risk assessments; since this incident, he has had 12,” Jackson found in his October 24 order.

The Court noted in a wry aside that the prisoner’s administrative remedies filed for loss of his property did “not settle the matter. Instead, they show [the inmate] and the BOP talking past one another,” a sensation that is all too common in the administrative remedy process.

Colorado Politics, Federal Judge Awards $10,000 to Supermax Prisoner For Guard’s Use of Force (October 29, 2025)

Mohamed v United States, Case No. 1:20-cv-2516, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 210451 (D. Colo. October, 24, 2025)

Homeland Security Behaving Badly: A couple of federal agents for Homeland Security wound up on the wrong side of the courtroom last week.

In Utah, DHS agent, Nicholas Kindle, an expert on the synthetic drug bath salts was sentenced to 60 months last week for selling the drug while on the job in Salt Lake City.

Before he was sentenced October 22, Nick’s defense attorney argued the sentence should be reduced to reflect his willingness to cooperate with the FBI. He asked for a below-Guidelines 33-month sentence.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, former DHS Timothy Gregg pled guilty last Wednesday to production of child pornography after producing videos of his sexual abuse of a 17-year-old.

Gregg testified he thought she was 19, but he later admitted that he had looked her up on a DHS law enforcement database and learned she was 17.

Gregg is the third Minnesota-based law enforcement officer charged with creating or possessing child sex abuse material this year.

Salt Lake City Tribune, A Utah federal agent and bath salts expert is headed to prison for selling the drug. Here’s how long he’ll serve. (October 29, 2025)

Minnesota Public Radio News, Ex federal agent admits guilt in child sex abuse case as attorney recounts harrowing surrender (October 30, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root

Federal Court Shutdown Follows No Common Script – Update for October 31, 2025

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

FEDERAL COURTS ARE CLOSED, BUT UNEVENLY

The federal judiciary ran out of money for full, paid operations last week, and the courts have fallen into ‘survival mode’.

Bloomberg Law reported last week that some court locations were closing one day per week and some staff members will be furloughed. Other staff members will work without pay to perform essential functions, including core constitutional duties and criminal cases.

The kinds of activities that fall into these exceptions and will therefore remain ongoing include emergency detention hearings, maintaining critical infrastructure like electronic filing systems, essential criminal proceedings, and urgent court filings that cannot be postponed without violating rights. It probably does not include compassionate release motions, § 2255 adjudication, and most § 2241 proceedings.

“In short,” FindLaw reported last week, “while judges remain constitutionally obligated to serve, the broader judiciary shifts into ‘survival mode,’ sustaining only the most crucial operations under strict legal limits. Most court employees (clerks, administrative staff, researchers, probation officers, and others) cannot work during a shutdown unless their tasks fall into one of those excepted categories. Those who do continue working must do so without pay until Congress restores funding. All other staff are being placed on furlough.”

How the courts have addressed the shutdown varies. Some are only working four days a week.  Others have limited the types of cases that will be decided.

Speaking on The Federal Drive podcast yesterday, Lathan & Watkins partner Nick Boyle, said,

There is a significant amount of autonomy in the court system. What’s happening is that there’s been a bit of divergence, court by court, as funding has run out. So, as you probably know, there was a period where non-appropriated funds could be used by courts. So, that’s things like the balances in court fee accounts, for example. At this point, that funding has essentially been exhausted, and courts are making different decisions on whether to stay open, what to prioritize, etc., depending on things like their caseload or what type of cases that they might take. So, you’re seeing a little bit of a divergence.

The last shutdown that led to court furloughs was over 30 years ago, during the Clinton administration.

ABA Journal, Federal courts furlough some staff as money runs out; Supreme Court will close to the public (October 20, 2025)

Bloomberg Law, US Courts Face First Furloughs Under Shutdown in 30 Years (October 17, 2025)

Findlaw, Justice Unpaid is ‘Justice Delayed’ as Courts Face Government Shutdown (October 22, 2025)

Federal News Network, The ongoing government shutdown is impacting the federal judiciary (October 30, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root

First Step Rollout Already Behind Schedule? – Update for January 21, 2019

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

COULD SHUTDOWN MESS WITH FIRST STEP ACT IMPLEMENTATION?

endshutdown190122The First Step Act sets July 19 as the hard deadline for adoption of a risk assessment system. That system is a precondition to the Bureau of Prisons beginning to grant earned time credit to inmates for programs that reduce recidivism.

But an even earlier deadline falls today, by which time the Dept. of Justice was to establish the committee tasked with creating the risk assessment system. The New York Times reported last week, however, that the Jan. 21 deadline would not be met, and no one still working at DOJ despite the shutdown will say when the committee will be formed.

No one is sure what happens if the risk assessment system is not in place by July 19. On the one hand, the deadline is written into the statute, so DOJ cannot ask for an extension. On the other hand, it is not clear who could sue or whether a court could effectively compel DOJ to meet the deadline.

Meanwhile, confusion continues to reign over the delay of the extra seven days of good time until July 19. “It absolutely makes no sense,” said Jack Donson, a former BOP case manager told the Times. Donson said the recalculation of good time should not have been linked to the new risk assessment system.

A staff member for Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the good-time effective date was inherited from a version of First Step passed by the House, and that Grassley was aware that questions had been raised about it.

While the staff member “wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as a drafting error,” he said Grassley “definitely has his eye on it and intends to keep working with the administration on a way forward.”

closed190122Meanwhile, the federal courts, which previously said their funds would run out on Jan. 18, announced last week that cost-cutting had extended the drop-dead date to at least Friday, Jan. 25. However, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts warned that “at some point in the near future, existing funds will run out if new appropriated funds do not become available.”

If that happens, the courts will operate under the Anti-Deficiency Act, 31 USC 1341, which limits them to mission-critical work. In response to DOJ requests, some federal courts have issued orders suspending or postponing civil cases in which the government is a party, and others have declined to do so.

Criminal cases are expected to proceed uninterrupted.

New York Times, Shutdown Threatens to Delay Criminal Justice Reforms Signed Into Law by Trump (Jan. 16)

Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, Judiciary to Continue Funded Operations Until Jan. 25 (Jan. 16)

– Thomas L. Root

Court’s Still In During Shutdown – Update for January 4, 2019

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

FEDERAL COURTS: BUSINESS AS USUAL (FOR NOW)

Despite President Trump’s partial government shutdown that began almost two weeks ago, the federal courts remain open and will continue operations for about three weeks, at least through January 11, by using court fee balances and other funds on hand.

38700Most proceedings and deadlines will occur as scheduled. In cases where an attorney from an Executive Branch agency is not working because of the shutdown, hearing and filing dates may be rescheduled. As of late last week, federal courts across the country started hitting pause on many cases at the request of the Dept. of Justice, which was arguing in cut-and-paste pleadings that the shutdown restricts government lawyers from performing their usual duties.

If the federal courts burn through their resources, they would then operate under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which allows work to continue during a lapse in appropriations if it is necessary to support the exercise of Article III judicial powers. Each court and federal defender’s office would determine the staffing resources necessary to support such work.

Meanwhile, the DOJ has cited its own 13-page contingency plan for continuation during the shutdown. The agency says that “criminal litigation will continue without interruption as an activity essential to the safety of human life and the protection of property,” but “civil litigation will be curtailed or postponed to the extent that this can be done without compromising to a significant degree the safety of human life or the protection of property… The Department will limit its civil litigation staffing to the minimum level needed to comply with the court’s order and to protect life and property. Receipt of summonses, pleadings and motions by mail may be delayed.”

Not all is bliss, however. Several Bureau of Prisons employees (who are considered essential) have sued the government for requiring them to show up for work without being paid at the appointed time. Apparently, the notion that when your employer stops paying you, you find another job – an idea well known in the private sector, where performance, merit, advancement and compensation are generally tightly-connected concepts –  has not occurred to these government employees. 

Administrative Office of US Courts, Judiciary Operating During Shutdown (Dec. 22, 2018)

DOJ, FY 2019 Contingency Plan (Sept. 11, 2018)

The Washington Post, ‘Nothing short of inhumane’: Union sues Trump administration over shutdown (Jan. 2, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root