Federal Judiciary Requests $1.54 Billion from Congress to Bolster Security and Infrastructure

The Judicial Conference of the United States is requesting $1.54 billion from Congress to be put towards information technology and cybersecurity updates, stronger security measures, and courthouse construction. This funding could be part of either an infrastructure package to be released by lawmakers or a budget plan that is still being negotiated.

In July 12, 2021 letters to leaders of the House and Senate Budget Committees, judiciary officials John Lungstrum and Roslynn Mauskopf stated, “Funding of the Judicial Branch’s most pressing infrastructure needs is essential to the day-to-day operations of the Nation’s federal courts.”

For courthouse and judicial security infrastructure, judiciary officials are requesting $389.5 million to be split between the Judiciary, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Federal Protective Service (FPS). This request comes as a result of several acts of violence and vandalism that have occurred at and around federal courthouses in the past year. In their letter, judiciary officials cite a 360% increase in threats towards judges and other personnel essential to court proceedings, such as prosecutors and security officers, between 2015 and 202.

The bulk of the funding requested, $634.3 million, is for courthouse construction infrastructure to address new construction projects and backlogs on existing projects. This funding would be allocated to the General Services Administration (GSA), mostly to GSA’s Federal Buildings Fund. The request includes funding for three courthouse projects in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hartford, Connecticut, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Part of this funding request allocates $78 million for GSA’s Capital Security Program (CSP) to address security deficiencies in existing courthouses. CSP has not received a congressional appropriation since FY 2018, and judiciary officials believe that with the increase in violent incidents around courthouses, funding is needed now more than ever.

Finally, the Judiciary requests $515 million for cybersecurity and IT modernization efforts. The combination of cyberattacks on government property coupled with aging legacy systems make it crucial for Congress to fund efforts to address these problems, according to both Mr. Lungstrum and Ms. Mauskopf. In their letter, they cite a recent IT security assessment conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that highlighted several threats to the security of the Judiciary IT systems.