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The United States Court of Federal Claims – the "People’s Court" – traces its roots directly back to the Court of Claims established by Congress in 1855. What began as a mechanism to advise Congress on the merits of claims against the United States became in 1863, at the urging of President Lincoln, a judicial forum for the citizenry against the government.
From the Tucker Act of 1887 to the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has been entrusted with nationwide jurisdiction over money claims (other than in tort) founded on federal statutes, executive regulations, government contracts, and the Constitution. Thus, for example, the Court hears contract disputes and Constitutional claims, actions for patent and copyright infringement, tax refunds, Indian claims, federal contract bid protests, civilian and military pay claims, and vaccine injury claims. The Court has also maintained its authority, unique among the federal judiciary, to advise on claims submitted by Congressional reference.
The Court is composed of 16 judges, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for terms of 15 years. The Court’s work is ably assisted by the contributions of its senior judges, as well as by its Special Masters, who hear the vaccine claims.
In fiscal year 2003, the Court disposed of 732 complaints, including 45 bid protests, and 151 petitions, and awarded judgments totaling $878 million on claims totaling $ 40 billion against the government.
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The United States Court of Federal Claims was recreated pursuant to Article I of the United States Constitution in October 1982, by the Federal Courts Improvement Act.(1) The Court consists of sixteen judges nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for a term of fifteen years.
After 1982, the Court retained all the original jurisdiction of the Court of Claims and continues, uninterrupted, a judicial tradition more than 140 years old. The Court has since been given new equitable jurisdiction in the area of bid protests, as well as jurisdiction in vaccine compensation.
The Court of Federal Claims is authorized to hear primarily money claims founded upon the Constitution, federal statutes, executive regulations, or contracts, express or implied-in-fact, with the United States.
Approximately one-quarter of the cases before the Court involve tax refund suits, an area in which the court exercise concurrent jurisdiction with United States district courts. The cases tend to involve complex factual and statutory construction issues in tax law. Another aspect of the court's jurisdiction involves government contracts. It was within the public contracts jurisdiction that the court was given new equitable authority in late 1996. Contract claims make up over a third of the court's workload. In recent years, the Court's Fifth Amendment takings jurisdiction has included many cases raising environmental and natural resource issues. This category has grown to about ten percent (10%) of the Court's docket. Another large category of cases involve civilian and military pay questions. In addition, the Court hears intellectual property, Indian tribe, and various statutory claims against the United States by individuals, domestic and foreign corporation, states and localities, Indian tribes and Nations, and foreign nationals and governments. The 2,200 plus pending cases involve claims currently estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, making the average claim well over one million dollars. The Court, however, has also efficiently handled numerous smaller claims. Its expertise, in recent years, has been seen as its ability to efficiently handle large, complex, and often technical litigation.
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