The Judiciary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether a federal judge appointed in March 1986 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit: (1) had adequate justification for occupying temporary office space outside his jurisdiction for 28 months after his appointment; and (2) heard appeals on any cases involving Department of Energy (DOE) matters.

GAO found that the judge was unable to timely relocate to Louisville, Kentucky, which was within his jurisdiction, since: (1) the General Services Administration (GSA) advised him that no office space was available in Louisville; (2) GSA froze the leasing of temporary office space; and (3) temporary space GSA offered the judge in July 1987 was unacceptable due to lack of air conditioning and heating and ongoing construction work. GAO also found that the judge: (1) moved into permanent quarters in Louisville in July 1988; (2) incurred no costs for his temporary offices in District of Columbia court buildings from March 1986 through July 1987; (3) moved his temporary office to a DOE building in July 1987, incurring space and telephone costs of $39,907 for 1 year; (4) would have incurred costs of about $44,000 during the 28-month period if he had relocated immediately after his appointment; (5) incurred between $6,384 and $8,974 more for his and staff airline travel than he would have if he had relocated immediately; (6) heard 1,100 cases, none of which named DOE as a party to the litigation; and (7) recused himself from one case which named DOE, for whom he formerly served as a deputy secretary.