Chief Justice Roberts wants more money for courts
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has called on Congress to increase the budgets of the federal judiciary, saying a shortage of money "remains the single most important issue facing the courts."
"I would like to choose a fresher topic, but duty calls," said Roberts in his annual year-end report.
He added that failing to adequately fund the federal judiciary "undermines the public’s confidence in all three branches of government."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While the court system is an independent branch of the federal government, it relies on funding from Congress. Court officials on Dec. 5 asked Congress to allocate $7.04 billion for the judiciary for the rest of the 2014 fiscal year, which runs through September. That is less than two-tenths of 1 percent of total federal outlays.