Judiciary Office Buyouts Lead to ‘Critical’ Staffing Shortages

The federal judiciary’s administrative arm offered buyouts to all of its staff this past fall, resulting in “critical staffing shortfalls” after nearly 100 employees accepted the packages.

The Administrative Office of the US Courts said in a budget request to Congress, publicly posted on Wednesday, that 92 staffers accepted “voluntary incentive separation packages” as of January 2026.

The office said the buyouts came after Congress didn’t increase its funds for several years, as well as “uncertainty” about funding for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

Most accepting buyouts worked in “mission areas that are integral to overall functioning of the AO and the courts,” according to the budget document. The Washington-based office, or AO, deals with administrative matters that impact the federal courts. That includes carrying out any national policies as directed by the Judicial Conference, the judge-managed policymaking body for the courts.

While the office said it now has the money to backfill 15 to 20 of those positions, it needs more funds during the next fiscal year to fill 48 more of those critical jobs in areas like human resources, financial management and accountability, and court support. Those areas “are essential to the effective operations of the Judiciary as a whole,” according to the AO.

A federal judiciary spokesperson declined to comment, including on which divisionswere impacted by the buyouts and if hiring has begun to backfill the open jobs.

Economic factors like inflation mean that even when Congress keeps funding levels steady for an agency, it can effectively act as a budget cut.

There are currently six permanent jobs listed for the AO on the federal government’s jobs website. One of them is a new role to lead the courts’ effort to gain property authority over their courthouses, an attempt opposed by the GSA, which currently oversees those buildings.

The federal judiciary furloughed some employees after the courts ran out of funds during last year’s government shutdown.