In his 2016 year-end report on the federal judiciary, released today, Chief Justice John Roberts did not address the February 13, 2016, death of Justice Antonin Scalia or the nearly eleven months in which the Supreme Court has operated with only eight justices. Instead, Roberts paid homage to federal district judges and the “crucial role” that they play in the federal judiciary. Roberts described the position of the federal district judge – in which, among the eight current justices, only Justice Sonia Sotomayor has served – in some detail, starting with “supervising the important pretrial process and conducting the trial itself.” “This is no job,” Roberts observed, “for impulsive, timid, or inattentive souls.”
Roberts also praised recent changes to the federal rules governing civil cases that interject district judges into case management earlier in the proceedings, in the hope that such investments will make the ultimate resolution of the case more efficient and perhaps even faster. “A lumberjack saves time,” Roberts posited, “when he takes the time to sharpen his ax.”
