Judiciary asks House appropriators for $9.4 billion in FY2026, warns of security, defender and IT shortfalls

Witnesses for the federal judiciary told the House Appropriations subcommittee that the branch is seeking about $9.4 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2026 to address rising threats to judges, understaffed public defender offices, and aging IT and courthouse infrastructure.

"An effective, efficient, and independent judiciary is foundational to the system of our government," Judge Amy St. Eve, chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Budget, said during the hearing. She outlined the Judicial Conference's budget request and said much of the increase is to maintain current services after two years of frozen funding.

The request the judiciary submitted to Congress includes roughly $6.9 billion for courts and probation and pretrial services, approximately $1.8 billion for defender services, and about $892 million for the court security program, according to testimony from the Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Officials said those figures reflect both inflation and specific program needs: much of the courts-and-probation increase was described as adjustments to maintain current services, while the defender-services request aims in part to mitigate suspended payments to private counsel under the FY2025 continuing resolution.

"If the judiciary... is to meet this pivotal moment and preserve the rule of law, we must ensure that it has the resources and independence it needs to function as a coequal branch of government," Ranking Member Steny Hoyer said in his opening remarks, urging support for the branch amid threats and political pressure. Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., director of the Administrative Office and secretary of the Judicial Conference, told the panel, "The independence of the judicial branch is jeopardized when judges are threatened with harm or impeachment on the basis of their rulings."

Witnesses pressed members on three linked areas: court security, cybersecurity and IT modernization, and federal defender staffing. St. Eve and Conrad said consecutive funding freezes for FY2024 and FY2025 forced the judiciary to delay courthouse hardening and other projects and, in some accounts, suspend or delay payments to private attorneys who provide constitutionally required defense services.

On cybersecurity, the judiciary described a multiyear plan that began in 2022 and incorporates zero-trust architecture and multi-factor authentication for judges and staff. St. Eve said the plan aims to modernize aging systems and to retain IT personnel. She said the judiciary coordinates with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and holds classified briefings for committee leaders to discuss threats.

Conrad highlighted space and construction needs handled through the General Services Administration, saying the judiciary's top priority is a courthouse annex in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which the Judicial Conference designated a space emergency in 2020. He told lawmakers that employees in Puerto Rico are working in trailers behind concertina wire and that the site sits on a seismic fault line.

Members pressed witnesses about judgeship vacancies and caseloads. The Judicial Conference has recommended new judgeships based on workload studies; witnesses said last Congress's bill to create additional judges passed the Senate unanimously but was not enacted. St. Eve said the conference has recommended dozens of new district and appellate judgeships after study of the 94 districts.

Several members raised concerns about threats to judges and doxxing on social media. Witnesses described a "vulnerability management" program and a "Delete Me" service to help remove personal identifying information from the internet; St. Eve said roughly three-quarters to 80 percent of active federal judges had enrolled in those services. They also said the judiciary has supported home-intrusion-detection systems and courthouse hardening projects funded through the court security account.

Lawmakers asked for additional detail in follow-up and signaled bipartisanship on aspects of the request while expressing a range of views about broader political tensions involving the courts. No appropriation or formal committee action was taken at the hearing; members were invited to submit written questions for the record.

The subcommittee will consider the budget request as part of the regular appropriations process; witnesses asked Congress to restore funding flexibility lost under the FY2025 continuing resolution and to approve targeted increases to address security, defender services, and IT modernization.