While some lawyers who received the note from the PR film thought it might be a fake, it was apparently a court product. Here is what was circulated:
Please see here for the fun Schoolhouse Rock-style cartoon theme song for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore played at their Judiciary Conference on Fri. in Washington. The crowd seemed to enjoy, and it does a good job of explaining the court.
That suspicion may have only increased after clicking on the link:
I was unable to confirm the use or amount of public funds, but the involvement of a public relations firm suggests that money was budgeted for this effort.
The total appropriations for the Federal Circuit in 2025 was $40,365,723. The court increased that request by roughly $2 million. in 2026 to $42,321,260.
Looking at the itemized obligations section of the budget, most of the budget is for salaries. There are provisions for “communications” and “other services” but I could not find anything that clearly encompassed this type of promotional product.
Nevertheless, my assumption is that this expenditure would fall within the broad parameters given to the courts. For example, it could be subsumed within the budget of the annual judicial conference as a fun diversion for the judges and the lawyers.
While it does not reach Noem-like levels (and is focused on the court rather than the Chief Judge), some in Congress may not be thrilled by the notion of courts spending public funds to manage their public image.
If public funds were used for this video, some in Congress may soon be quoting from the original song over the costs: “Yes, I’m only a bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
Kudos: Professor Josh Blackman