Chuck Edwards Presses Witness On Why the Federal Judiciary Lacks An Inspector General

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) questioned Robert Conrad, the Secretary of the Judicial Conference, about the Federal Judiciary’s lack of Inspector General.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman's time has expired.

00:01I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, my friend, Representative Edwards, for five minutes.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:07Judge Conrad, with over 800 federally owned or leased court facilities, the judiciary is one of GSA's three largest tenants.

00:18How have organizational changes in the GSA affected the facilities of the federal judiciary?

00:25We have an ongoing relationship with the GSA, both in terms of courthouse construction and maintenance.

00:35We have historically asked for more than they can deliver with respect to their funding.

00:43I mentioned the Puerto Rico emergency situation where the courthouse is outdated, unsafe, and built on a seismic fault line.

00:53In a district where there's a very high-value violent crime caseload.

01:00And so there's ongoing efforts at doing things efficiently, but the ability to maintain our courts,

01:13and particularly our older courts, is in good times stress, but in these times a real challenge for us.

01:19And so I've met recently with the public building commissioner.

01:24We have ongoing dialogue with the GSA.

01:28We've actually, in light of some recent developments, had the ability to hire some really competent GSA people

01:35who turned out looking for jobs.

01:38And they've come with us and bring with them a real knowledge of how things work on the other side

01:44and enable us to communicate better.

01:48I recognize that 10 federal courthouses appeared on the now-redacted list of non-core federal facilities released by the GSA.

01:58Six courthouses currently appear on GSA's list of assets identified for accelerated disposition.

02:05How frequently does the judiciary dispose of properties from the real estate portfolios?

02:11We have a space and facilities committee of the Judicial Conference that looks at this question with some degree of intensity.

02:22I can speak from the district that you come from in the Western District of North Carolina.

02:27We, years ago, had five federal courthouses.

02:31We now have three.

02:33And so that's an ongoing examination by our branch.

02:40And caseload changes, population changes, are all taken into consideration.

02:46Resident or non-resident judges in courthouses impact the decision whether to close a courthouse or not.

02:54I've had three conversations this week with different judges across the country who are actively considering

03:01whether to close down a courthouse or keep it open.

03:06And so I think with our budget requests, we're also acting responsibly to try to contain our courthouse footprint

03:17and ask you for funding only when it's absolutely necessary.

03:21Does the judiciary currently own or lease any courtroom or office space that's not currently occupied or in use?

03:32I don't have on the top of my head the number of, you're asking about non-resident judge courthouses?

03:42Well, any federal courthouse or office.

03:46There are districts that have courthouses where judges travel from one courthouse to another

03:52to serve the needs of a different division.

03:54I don't have the exact number of those courthouses.

03:58Final question is, when preparing for hearings like this one,

04:02I typically find Inspector General Reports to be a really good resource for information

04:08on how agencies can improve their performance.

04:11And I really was intrigued to learn that while the Department of Justice has an Inspector General,

04:19the federal judiciary does not.

04:22And I was just curious to know your thoughts on why or why not should the federal judiciary have an Inspector General?

04:31We are a separate and independent branch of government that is decentralized in its structure.

04:43And we don't have a single Inspector General audit.

04:47We have approximately 100 audits that go on every year from the various district courts across the country.

04:55We have an audit committee.

04:58Our governance is through the judicial conference, as you know.

05:02And we have 25 different judicial conference committees made up of volunteer judges

05:07and others who create policy for us, conduct audits.

05:14We have access to CPA firms that conduct audits for us.

05:20And our belief is that we're very responsible in the use of the funds that you give us

05:28and that we're very careful with our judicial conference audit committee,

05:33with our budget committee, and the other structure that we have in place.

05:37And although we don't have a single IG audit that you speak of,

05:43we have the information necessary to tell you where the money is spent and how we're using it.

05:51I appreciate your time.

05:53The Chair and our...

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