The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts launched a public database of federal judges' financial disclosure reports and periodic transaction reports, it said Monday. The reports "will be continuously added as they are prepared for release," it said.

Plans to update the federal court system's Pacer service include enhanced search functionality such as unified search capability and search technology that's cloud based "both intuitive and user-friendly," Roslynn Mauskopf, U.S. Courts Administrative Office director, wrote lawmakers Wednesday. The new search capabilities will allow record searches from a central repository crossing court boundaries, eliminating the need to search for records at each individual federal court, Mauskopf said. The capability will also enable full text searches and searches by judges’ names. "The new search technology will be both easy to use and free for non-commercial users," she said. However, the Open Courts Act "may unduly constrain the effort we have underway," Mauskopf said, noting Congressional Budget Office opinions that eliminating Pacer fees will cost the Judiciary $1 billion over a 10-year period.

Mask use is now optional in the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia's public areas of the courthouse, such as hallways and elevators, the court said Monday. It said the presiding judge will set mask policy in District Court and Bankruptcy Court courtrooms. Masks are optional in courtrooms for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2210140066).

Masks are now optional in U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit courtrooms and courthouse public areas, the court said Friday. It said oral arguments are open to the public in person, though audio of oral arguments will continue to be streamed on the court's YouTube channel.