U.S. Court of Federal Claims COFC

Because the government cannot be sued without its consent, citizens with money claims against it once had to petition Congress for private relief bills. Congress created the Court of Claims in 1855 to handle these claims, and Abraham Lincoln pressed to give its judgments final effect. In 1982 its trial functions moved to a new Claims Court, renamed the Court of Federal Claims in 1992. It is an Article I court whose sixteen judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for fifteen-year terms.

Under the Tucker Act, the court hears claims for money from the United States based on the Constitution, federal statutes, regulations, or contracts. Its docket includes government contract disputes and bid protests over federal procurement, claims under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, military and civilian pay cases, tax refund suits, and Native American tribal claims. Through special masters it also runs the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which pays people injured by covered vaccines without requiring them to sue manufacturers.

The court sits in Washington but has nationwide jurisdiction, and it decides cases without juries. Its decisions are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which shares its building on Lafayette Square. Because it is where contractors challenge contract awards and cancellations, its docket rises and falls with federal spending and with large-scale contract terminations like those in 2025.