The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued new protocols effective immediately and no longer is requiring masks for entering the National Courts Building, the court said in a Nov. 15 notice. The update reflects the change made in a previous administrative order dropping the mask mandate (see 2211100019).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as of Nov. 10, no longer requires masks to be worn when entering the National Courts Building and connecting buildings. The court said the Federal Circuit and Court of Federal Claims "may continue to implement health and safety protocols, procedures, practices, or policies to minimize the possibility of viral transmission, as reflected in posted signs or placards, and/or information posted on the courts’ public websites."

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in a Nov. 7 dissenting opinion railed against the court system's use of Chevron deference in a case over veterans' disability benefits. Breaking from his colleagues' decision on the petition for writ of certiori, Gorsuch decried the use of Chevron deference as the "kind of judicial abdication" that "disserves both our veterans and the law."

A free public database launched Monday listing federal judges' financial disclosure and periodic transaction reports, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced. Judge Thomas Aquilino was the only member of the Court of International Trade to have a financial disclosure report in the database, with his covering calendar year 2021. At the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Judges Todd Hughes, Richard Linn, Haldane Mayer, Jimmie Reyna, Alan Lourie and Raymond Clevenger submitted financial disclosure reports for 2021. The database was developed by the AO and completed before the Nov. 9 deadline set by the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act.

Plans to update the federal court system's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (Pacer) service include enhanced search functionality such as unified search capability and search technology that's cloud-based and "both intuitive and user-friendly," Rosslynn Mauskopf, U.S. Courts Administrative Office director, wrote lawmakers on Oct. 19. The new search capabilities will allow record searches from a central repository crossing court boundaries, eliminating the need to search for records at each individual federal court, Mauskopf said. The unified search capability also will enable full text searches and searches by judges’ names. "The new search technology will be both easy to use and free for non-commercial users," she said. However, the Open Courts Act "may unduly constrain the effort we have underway," Mauskopf said, noting Congressional Budget Office opinions that eliminating Pacer fees will cost the Judiciary $1 billion over a 10-year period.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit posted the cases it will hear when it sits in Philadelphia as part of its November session, the court announced Oct. 14. The court will hear cases Nov. 1 and 2 at the law schools of Villanova University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. On Nov. 3, the court will seat two panels at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, one panel in ceremonial courtroom, the other in courtroom 6A.

Judge Stephen Vaden never sought his nomination to the Court of International Trade. Rather, during a trip to San Francisco while serving as general counsel to USDA, he got an intriguing phone call. Using his deductive powers, Vaden knew the call could only have originated from one place: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Walking on the streets of San Francisco, he waited until he could slip back into his hotel to take the call, because who takes a call from the White House on the street?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be closed on both Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25, for Thanksgiving, the court said in an Oct. 4 order. Nov. 25 will be considered a "legal holiday" for the purposes of computation of time and motions to enlarge time under the Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure and Federal Circuit Rule 26, the court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 30 appointed new members to the court's Advisory Council. Chief Judge Kimberly Moore added Eldora Ellison, director at Sterne Kessler; Michelle Klancnik, assistant general counsel at the International Trade Commission; Roman Martinez, partner at Latham & Watkins; and Sonal Mehta, partner at WilmerHale, to the council. Each appointee will serve a three-year term commencing Oct. 1, the court said. The Advisory Council reviews, studies and makes recommendations on the court's rules of practice and internal operating procedures while also serving as a conduit between the public and the court over its procedural rules, the court said.

A bill that would make searches free on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service is estimated to add $77 million to the federal deficit from 2022 to 2032, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report.