The $85 billion in automatic budget cuts, known as the sequester, went into effect this past Friday, March 1.  Established by the Budget Control Act of 2011, these cuts were intended to be broad and indiscriminate.  Rather than narrow in on specific government programs and waste, Congress enacted these cuts to force itself to take meaningful action on budget reduction.  Somewhat unsurprisingly, Congress failed to reach an agreement on the budget and now the sequester is expected to result in a range of unwelcome consequences such as increased travel delays at the airport and the layoff of public school teachers.  Not even the federal court system will remain unscathed.

According to the Administrative Office the U.S. Courts, which allocates funding, the federal court system will see a five percent reduction in its annual budget, dropping it to $6.6 billion.  While the cuts are not expected to cause mass layoffs and court closings, there will be a definitive and growing impact on the federal court system and its employees as it progresses through the remainder of the fiscal year ending September 30.  Eighteen hundred jobs have already been cut in the past eighteen months, and an additional two thousand employees are projected to be furloughed.

The impact thus far, though, has been mixed among the district courts.  The Northern District of Illinois is not expecting any court closures in the immediate future whereas the Western District of Washington is estimating double digit cuts to its budget and lingering job vacancies.

In Manhattan, the Southern District of New York, which sees roughly 12,000 cases annually, will incur a fourteen and twenty percent reduction in its salary and non-salary budgets respectively.  At a town hall style meeting in the ceremonial courtroom of the 500 Pearl St. courthouse this past Friday, Southern District Chief Judge Loretta Preska addressed the court’s understandably nervous employees.  She assured them that the rumored 12 furlough days between now and September 30 would not occur although other measures would be taken.  The announcement resulted in visibly relieved employees, many of whom are living paycheck to paycheck.  Some even cried and personally thanked Chief Judge Preska.

Rather than lay off employees and close their doors, courts are aiming to reduce minor services such as probation and pretrial services.  Supervisees of probation programs will receive fewer units of treatment and people who are remanded without bail will no longer be drug tested.  Additionally, courts will try to save money through buyouts and early retirements.

And so, while the sequester will not be without its hardships—Chief Judge Preska has suggested that judges and law clerks use plug-in lamps instead of general lighting to save on the utility bill—employees and citizens alike can rest assured that the court system will continue to function as it did on February 28.