Proposal that Congress Create a Commission on Federal Court Structure

Abstract

In December 1993, the Federal Judicial Center completed a full-scale report on the alternative futures of the United States courts of appeals. The report, entitled Structural and Other Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, examines the problems facing the federal appellate system. The Report squarely favors non-structural reforms over more radical changes in the organization of the federal court system. This Federal Judicial Center Report is the culmination of three decades of studies, reports, committees, articles, and hearings which have discussed and debated what the appropriate response should be to the astronomical growth in the number of appeals in the United States courts of appeals. The next question, which this essay addresses, is what should follow this Report. Professor Baker’s recommendation is that Congress create a Commission on Federal Court Structure. Says he, “My hope is that such a Commission will allow for more rational discourse and less untoward political pressures as proposals for reform begin to take shape.”