Judicial Conference of the United States

Chief Justice William Howard Taft persuaded Congress in 1922 to create a Conference of Senior Circuit Judges so the scattered federal courts could act as a system rather than as independent fiefdoms. Renamed the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1948, it is presided over by the Chief Justice and has twenty-six members: the chief judge of each of the thirteen courts of appeals, a district judge elected from each of the twelve regional circuits, and the chief judge of the Court of International Trade. It meets twice a year, in March and September.

The Conference sets policy for the lower federal courts. It recommends to Congress how many new judgeships are needed, approves the judiciary's budget request, proposes changes to the federal rules of civil, criminal, appellate, bankruptcy, and evidence procedure through its rules committees, and issues the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. It also oversees judges' financial disclosure reports and handles the final stages of misconduct complaints, and it can certify to the House that impeachment of a judge may be warranted.

Most of its work is done through about two dozen committees of judges. Its decisions are sometimes politically consequential, as in its March 2024 guidance encouraging district courts to assign cases seeking statewide or nationwide relief randomly, to discourage plaintiffs from choosing single-judge divisions. Its Code of Conduct does not bind Supreme Court justices, who adopted their own code in November 2023.