This report uses caseload data to examine case-processing trends in the United States district courts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

This report summarizes the responses to a survey conducted by the Federal Judicial Center in July 2021 to collect the experiences and insights of U.S. district and magistrate judges across the country regarding their use of virtual technology (videoconferencing and teleconferencing) before, during, and after the pandemic.

We learned from several dozen federal clerks of court and members of their staffs that pro se litigants are sometimes able to file electronically using the federal courts’ Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, but many courts are hesitant to allow pro se filing in CM/ECF. Prisoners do not have access to the Internet, so it is not feasible for them to use CM/ECF.

We conducted this research at the request of the federal rules committees’ working group on pro se electronic filing. The most salient rules-related lessons of this research are (1) perhaps paper filers should not be required to serve their filings on parties already receiving electronic service; and (2) because electronic filing is sometimes understood to mean filing using CM/ECF and sometimes understood to mean submitting filings electronically, such as by email, perhaps the rules should clarify their references to electronic filing.

This report presents the findings from focus groups conducted with judiciary and nonjudiciary stakeholders on the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' Wiretap Report.