positions, they were 612 less than the number of appeals commenced. As a result, for the eighth consecutive year appeals pending in courts of appeals continued to increase, reflecting at the end of 1966 the all-time high of 5,387.

The largest increase in docketing of new appeals occurred last year in the District of Columbia, Third, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit continued to be the most heavily burdened, with a 3-percent increase in appeals docketed. The practice of assignment of judges from both within the circuit and from other circuits has continued and has been of substantial assistance in the Fifth Circuit.

The increased workload in the courts of appeals was particularly characterized by appeals in criminal cases, which in the past 2 years have increased 40 percent. Appeals rose over those in 1965 by more than 19 percent in criminal cases, climbing from 1,223 in 1965 to 1,458 in 1966.

District Courts.-Pending civil cases in the district courts climbed to a record high of 79,117 as of June 30, 1966, Mr. Olney reports. The number of filings increased 5 percent, so that despite the fact that more civil cases were terminated than in the previous year, the total pending caseload figure reached a new high. Efforts

to reduce the number of civil cases pending more than 3 years lagged in 1966. Civil actions in this category increased from 6,626 to 7,427 in 1966, a 12-percent increase. About half of these cases were pending in three districts: Southern New York, eastern Pennsylvania, and eastern Louisiana.

The criminal cases removed from State to Federal courts showed a sharp decline, from 1,192 in 1965 to 383 in 1966. Total criminal actions filed in the district courts, excluding removed cases, declined to a 3-year low of 29,346, a decrease of 3 percent from the prior year.

Habeas corpus petitions and other actions filed by persons in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court again increased, however, to 5,950, reflecting a 19-percent rise over 1965. Motions to vacate sentence, on the other hand, filed by persons in Federal custody under 28 U.S.C. 2255, declined almost 37 percent, reversing a trend of the past few years.

Bankruptcy filings also increased sharply during 1966. New cases numbered 192,354, a 7-percent increase over 1965. Nonbusiness bankruptcies, in particular employee bankruptcies, con

tinue to increase at a faster rate than business bankruptcies and in 1966 accounted for more than 91 percent of all bankruptcy cases. Referees in bankruptcy closed 186,219 cases as compared with 175,117 in 1965, but filings continued to outstrip terminations, so that the pending caseload on June 30, 1966, reached the record total of 168,507.

Additional Judgeships.-The Director's report pointed out that during fiscal year 1966 Congress enacted legislation authorizing 10 additional judgeships in the courts of appeals, including 4 temporary positions in the Fifth Circuit, and 35 judgeships in the district courts. The report points out that this legislation, Public Law 89-372, approved March 18, 1966, follows in large measure recommendations of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

SUPPORTING PERSONNEL

In a specific case presented by the Director, the Conference instructed him that the appointment of a law clerk and a bailiffmessenger should not be processed for a judge who had been certified as permanently disabled under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 372(b) by the Judicial Council of his circuit and who had also been found to be permanently disabled by the President of the United States in appointing an additional judge as provided in section 372(b). In this instance, in response to an inquiry from the Director, the Judicial Council of the circuit had informed the Director that the judge's physical condition had not changed, that he remained unable to discharge the duties of his office, that the Council knew of no judicial function performed by him over a period of some 3 years and that the Council knew of no necessity for the employment of any person or persons to serve the judge in his judicial capacity and of no reason why the public good would be served by the employment of such person or persons.

JUDICIAL APPROPRIATIONS

The Chairman of the Committee on the Budget, Chief Judge William J. Campbell, advised the Conference that the judiciary appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1967 had not yet been reported out by the House Appropriations Committee. The judiciary, therefore, was operating under continuing resolutions of the Con

gress limiting the program and activities of the courts to the amounts authorized in the previous year.

The budget estimate for the judiciary for fiscal year 1967, exclusive of the Supreme Court of the United States, as submitted to the Congress, was $88,949,900. The estimate was subsequently amended to include $4,735,000 to cover the cost of the additional circuit and district judges authorized by Public Law 89-372 and the two new judicial districts in California. The estimate was also amended to the extent of $127,000 to cover the cost of two additional judgeships authorized for the Court of Claims. The total budget estimate, excluding the Supreme Court, was thus $93,811,900. This represents $13,285,200 more than the obligational authority granted for fiscal year 1966.

The Conference authorized submission of a request for supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 1967 as a result of the enactment of the Federal Salary and Fringe Benefits Act of 1966.

The Budget Committee recommended and the Conference approved the budget estimates for the fiscal year 1968 which, exclusive of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Customs Court, aggregated $91,851,200. The estimate for 1968 provides for 9 additional deputy clerks for the U.S. courts of appeals, 59 additional deputy clerks for the U.S. district courts, 2 additional positions for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 6 additional full-time referees-in-bankruptcy, the conversion of 2 part-time referees to full-time status and 1 full-time referee to part-time status and 40 additional clerical employees for the bankruptcy system. Provision was made for the reclassification of the secretaries to the commissioners of the U.S. Court of Claims, within-grade salary advancements for judicial personnel and for other miscellaneous expenses of the courts. The estimate included the sum of $3,500,000 to cover fees and expenses of court-appointed counsel in fiscal year 1968.

The Conference authorized the Director of the Administrative Office to request for fiscal year 1968 any positions included in the 1967 budget which may be denied by the Congress. The Director was also authorized to revise the budget estimates for 1968 and submit to Congress estimates of supplemental appropriations required for any purpose which could not be anticipated at the time of the submission of the 1968 appropriations request to the Conference.

JUDICIAL STATISTICS

Senior Judge Harvey M. Johnsen, Chairman of the Committee on Judicial Statistics, presented the Committee's report to the Conference.

COURTS OF APPEALS

Pursuant to the authorization of the Conference at its September 1965 session (Conf. Rept., p. 47), further consideration is being given by the Committee to the aspects of the survey and study which it is attempting to make of the work of the courts of appeals in both their individual and their system status. Judge Johnsen reported that the Committee has succeeded in obtaining the services of Mr. Will Shafroth, former Deputy Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, to undertake the necessary field work aimed at studying the varying practices among the courts of appeals in the handling of their administrative and judicial loads. Judge Johnsen advised that his Committee would report further to the Conference at its next meeting.

ADDITIONAL JUDGESHIPS

Although a number of requests for recommendations for additional judgeships for various district courts have been received, the Committee passed over these recommendations until the Committee's next overall consideration and evaluation of the need for additional judgeships.

THREE-YEAR-OLD CIVIL CASES

The Conference at its September 1961 session declared that 3-year-old civil cases then pending which were appropriate for trial should be considered as a judicial emergency and be dealt with on that basis (Conf. Rept., p. 61). The Committee reported at the March 1963 session of the Conference that substantial and continuing progress in attention to and disposition of these 3-yearold civil cases had been achieved. Accordingly, the Conference approved the recommendation that thereafter each district court deal with such cases in regular programmed effort (Conf. Rept., p. 46).

Judge Johnsen reported that the reduction effected by 1963 has not been maintained and that the volume of pending 3-year-old

cases has risen progressively each year since. The percentage climb of pending 3-year-old cases has been far beyond the percentage increase in general pending cases. The practice by which the Administrative Office at the close of each fiscal year sends to the chief judge of each circuit a list of the 3-year-old cases pending in the district courts of his circuit has not achieved the result which the Committee hoped and, accordingly, the Conference approved the following resolution.

The Conference requests the Director of the Administrative Office by transmittal of copies of this resolution to call the attention of all the judges of the district courts to the fact that the number of three-year-old cases pending in the federal system has continued to increase materially since 1963 and to remind them of the request which the Conference made at its March 1963 session that each district court undertake to deal with such cases in a continuing regular programmed effort for effecting disposition of them.

STATISTICS UNDER THE BAIL REFORM ACT

Judge Johnsen advised that the Committee had considered the likelihood of an increased demand for statistical information on the operation of the Bail Reform Act. The Committee has, however, adopted the view that the Administrative Office should not be asked to gather or maintain such statistics since the demand for information would seem to be capable of being dealt with by the Department of Justice. The files of the U.S. attorneys will presumably contain a notation as to the nature of the bail action taken both by the commissioner and by the district court in each criminal case.

FORM JS-10-INFORMATION ON TRIAL DAYS

Judge Johnsen stressed that the information requested on Administrative Office Form JS-10 as to the number of trial days engaged in by each district judge was a factor of value in obtaining a comprehension as to the comparative nature of the judicial work involved in a district as against another in an overall appraisal of the need for additional judge power. The Conference directed the Committee to make a continuing study of this form and of the data which must be furnished in this form in an effort to obtain a realistic reflection of judicial workloads.