A pair of top House Democrats are urging the federal judiciary to adopt an inspector general to help address and mitigate issues within the court system.

In a letter sent to James Duff, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the House Oversight Committee requested information about several areas of the office they identified as problematic.

The Democrats cited concerns about the use of contractors by the federal judiciary's administrative arm, as well as the ongoing dispute over the use of PACER fees to cover costs in the office, among several topics they felt could be properly addressed by an inspector general.

Among other issues they raised was a lack of information on how much the federal judiciary was spending on outside consultants and not offering competitive contracts for outside investigators for internal investigations.

The members wrote that, if the office were to adopt an inspector general, several key issues could have been prevented or quickly resolved.

And they pointed to a working group created by Duff, at the request of Chief Justice John Roberts, to address issues within the federal judiciary as showing the need for such an independent position within the federal judiciary.

That letter, sent Thursday, was signed by committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, the chairman of the subcommittee on government operations.

"The working group did not recommend the establishment of an Inspector General for AOUSC. However, an Inspector General could have provided ongoing oversight for AOUSC and the courts and preempted the need for such an acute solution as a working group," Cummings and Connolly wrote.

The lawmakers also said an inspector general would help ensure the recommendations made by the working group in their final report issued last year are fully and timely implemented.

"If these recommendations do not produce actionable change within the Judiciary, the effort will be all for naught, and victims of workplace misconduct will continued to suffer," the letter reads.

The Oversight Democrats did praise Duff's office for appointing appeals court administrator Jill Langley as its judiciary integrity officer last year, but criticized an apparent lack of independence surrounding her role.

"[I]f this new position reports only to the Director, it will lack the independence of an Inspector General. The establishment of a judicial integrity officer is a welcome step, but more can be done to improve workplace relations in the Judiciary," they wrote.

The House Democrats laid out several areas of concern within the office, including a potential overuse of full-time contractors, a lack of mechanisms in place to make sure that information technology projects are being completed on time and on budget, and a lack of competition in choosing an outside firm to conduct internal AOUSC investigations.

Cummings and Connolly asked the office to provide them with the information by Oct. 4.

Representatives for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts did not immediately return a request for comment.

Thursday's letter is being praised by at least one court reform group, Fix the Court, whose executive director Gabe Roth testified before Congress earlier this year about judicial reform.

"The federal judiciary is notorious for being the least accountable part of our government. Installing an inspector general in its administrative arm could change that by providing oversight of critical tasks, like hiring and contracting, and by ensuring the judiciary maintains its commitment to ending workplace harassment," Roth said in a statement Friday.

Duff established the working group in his office after Roberts called for its creation in 2017 in his annual report on the federal judiciary.

At the time, the chief justice highlighted issues surrounding sexual harassment within the judiciary, particularly after Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit faced roughly a dozen allegations of sexual harassment. Kozinski resigned from the bench over the allegations.

Cummings and Conolly noted in their letter that an inspector general has been helpful in addressing sexual harassment issues in other parts of the federal government, like the Department of Justice.

"The value of an Inspector General in uncovering problems with sexual harassment and workplace misconduct is well-documented," the Democrats wrote, citing DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's memo on handling those issues within his agency.

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