U.S. appeals courts to charge $150 membership fee

Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press, Nov 23, 2004 by Donna Walter

Beginning Jan. 1, a $150 national membership fee will be collected for attorneys admitted to practice in any circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The fee was imposed under the direction of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

The national fee, which will be collected from new members only, is in addition to each circuit's local bar fee. The 8th Circuit's membership fee is $40.

The national fee will be collected every time an attorney joins a new bar.

This action was prompted by the federal judiciary's budget crisis, said Michael Gans, clerk of the appellate court.

I don't really have a number on how many people are admitted nationwide to the circuit bars, but it's on the order of several thousand, and so this is viewed as one way to increase revenue, said Gans.

Filing fees were raised last year, he added. The charge for online access to documents has been raised. This fee is another attempt, I guess, for us to - we'll never be self-supporting - to generate some more revenue; Congress is looking for us to do that.

The federal judiciary is currently waiting for its 2005 appropriation from Congress. In the past year, however, the budget crisis has cost the federal judiciary 1,350 jobs, according to information from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Another 509 employees were furloughed during this time.

Gans said in the last year he lost four positions that he will be unable to refill. With the numbers being debated for the 2005 fiscal year budget, the 8th Circuit appellate court estimates a 42 percent cut for personnel and operating costs combined, said Gans.

The federal judiciary requested $5.7 billion from Congress for FY 2005. The House approved funding to maintain current services at $5.546 billion, a 5.6 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $5.4 billion for the judiciary, but the full Senate has not yet voted on the bill.

Last month, the judiciary leaders asked Congress to fund the salaries and expenses account at $4.197 billion to pay for fixed expenses and to return court staffing to the early 2004 level.