Administrative Office of the United States Courts

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO or AOUSC for short) is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system, established in 1939. The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch, and it provides the federal court with a wide range of legislative (legislative assistance), administrative, legal, financial, management, program (program evaluation), and information technology support services.

The Judicial Conference of the United States directly supervises it. This body sets the national and legislative policy of the federal judiciary, and it is composed of the chief justice, the chief judge of each court of appeals, a district court judge from each regional judicial circuit, and the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade. The AO implements and executes Judicial Conference policies, and applicable federal statutes and regulations. The office facilitates communications within the judiciary and with Congress, the executive branch, and the public on behalf of the judiciary. Administrative Office lawyers, public administrators, accountants, systems engineers, analysts, architects, statisticians, and other staff provide a wide variety of professional services to meet the needs of judges and more than 32,000 Judiciary employees working in more than 800 locations across the United States.