Two federal judges admitted that their staff used artificial intelligence to generate court orders containing errors. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released responses from U.S. Southern District of Mississippi Judge Henry T. Wingate and U.S. District of New Jersey Judge Julien Xavier Neals regarding their use of AI to draft what Grassley’s office described as “error-ridden orders” that misquoted the law, referenced individuals uninvolved in the case, and generated fake quotes.
The judges have since implemented measures to verify court orders.
Neals said the decision was “released in error – human error – and withdrawn as soon as it was brought to the attention of my chambers, swiftly avoiding any irreparable harm to litigants or counsel.”
“My chamber’s policy prohibits the use of GenAI in the legal research for, or drafting of, opinions or orders,” the judge wrote. “In the past, my policy was communicated verbally to chamber’s staff, including interns. That is no longer the case. I now have a written unequivocal policy that applies to all law clerks and interns.”
Similarly, Wingate said the “root cause of the errors identified in Defendant’s unopposed motion to clarify/correct was a lapse in human oversight, specifically the posting of a draft opinion instead of a final one and the failure to put the draft opinion through the final review process.”
Grassley said of the judges’ responses to his inquiry that “honesty is always the best policy. I commend Judges Wingate and Neals for acknowledging their mistakes and I’m glad to hear they’re working to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Each federal judge, and the judiciary as an institution, has an obligation to ensure the use of generative AI does not violate litigants’ rights or prevent fair treatment under the law,” he said, declaring that the “judicial branch needs to develop more decisive, meaningful and permanent AI policies and guidelines. We can’t allow laziness, apathy or over-reliance on artificial assistance to upend the Judiciary’s commitment to integrity and factual accuracy. As always, my oversight will continue.”
In 2024, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a year-end report that artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the legal field. He explained that AI requires “caution and humility,” describing incidents where lawyers submitted briefs with “citations to non-existent cases.”
“In criminal cases, the use of AI in assessing flight risk, recidivism, and other largely discretionary decisions that involve predictions has generated concerns about due process, reliability, and potential bias,” Justice Roberts continued.
