Order in the Courts:A History of theFederal Court Clerk’s Office

I. Scott Messinger

Associate HistorianFederal Judicial History Office

Federal Judicial Center2002This Federal Judicial Center publication was undertaken in further-ance of the Center’s statutory mission to “conduct, coordinate, andencourage programs relating to the history of the judicial branch of the United States government.” The views expressed are those of theauthor and not necessarily those of the Federal Judicial Center.

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Contents

Acknowledgments,

Introduction,

Federal Court Clerks in the New Nation and the Early Republic,1789–1839,

Defining the Office: Antecedents and Early Legislation,

The Fee System,

Called into Notice: Profiles of Some Early Court Clerks,

Judicial Authority and the Clerks’ Tenure,

Pure and Honest Beyond Suspicion: The Clerks and the Emergence of Executive Branch Supervision of the Federal Courts, 1839–1869,

The Reporting Requirement of 1839,

The Surplus Income Acts of 1841 and 1842,

The Fee Bill of 1853,

The Clerks and Court Reform, 1870–1919,

A Burlesque and a Sham: The Clerks and the Processing of theFederal Courts’ Naturalization Business,

Reform Delayed: The Clerks and the Restructuring of the Federal Judiciary, 1891–1912,

We Are All American Citizens: The Clerks and the Salary Drive,1911–1919,

Toward a More Efficient and Independent Judiciary: The FederalCourt Clerks Association, The Judicial Conference, and theAdministrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 1919–1969,

The Federal Court Clerks Association,

The Conference of Senior Circuit Judges and the Emergence of the Clerk-Statistician,

Cogs in the Machine: The Clerks and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts,

The Emergence of the Court Executive, 1970–1981,