S. 5094 — Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2026

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2026” and sets forth its table of contents.

This section establishes the United States Immigration Courts as an independent Article I court system outside the executive branch. The courts consist of an appellate division of 21 immigration appeals judges appointed to 15-year terms, a trial division of immigration trial courts, and an administrative division, with the appellate division exercising en banc authority over judge appointments, rules, and non-adjudicative matters.

This section authorizes the chief judge of the United States Immigration Courts to appoint a clerk and permits immigration judges and designated court officials to appoint law clerks, secretaries, deputies, and other employees, all without regard to competitive service rules under title 5 of the United States Code. It empowers the appellate division to set basic pay rates consistent with comparable judicial branch positions and requires preference for veterans among equally qualified applicants.

This section establishes the budget of the United States Immigration Courts independently, without executive branch review or modification, and requires its inclusion in the President's annual budget submission to Congress. It authorizes the courts to make expenditures necessary for judicial and administrative functions and to receive and expend appropriated funds directly or by transfer to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, another Article I court, or an executive agency.

This section requires the chief judge of the United States Immigration Courts to submit an annual report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees by April 1 summarizing the courts' workload for the preceding fiscal year. The report must include demographic information on respondents and representation rates, outcomes of removal proceedings and bond hearings disaggregated by area and judge, pending case numbers and changes from the prior year, average wait times by area, and any additional information requested by the committees.

This section establishes the application date on which the United States Immigration Courts begin operations as the first day of the first or second full fiscal year after enactment (depending on whether that day falls at least 180 days after enactment) and the appointment of at least three immigration appeals judges. It creates a four-year transition period beginning on that date, during which existing Executive Office for Immigration Review immigration judges serve as interim trial judges with full authority until the earlier of the end of the transition period plus a successor or five years after the application date. It staggers the initial terms of the first 21 appeals judges at five, ten, and fifteen years after the application date and credits up to five years of prior Board of Immigration Appeals, immigration judge, or administrative law judge service toward retirement for covered judges.

This section transfers the functions, personnel, assets, and appropriations of the Executive Office for Immigration Review to the Immigration Courts on the application date, except for the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer and its supporting functions, which remain under the Department of Justice. It preserves precedential decisions issued before the application date unless overruled by the appellate division, maintains existing Attorney General rules until amended, and transfers all pending proceedings under title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act to the Immigration Courts without loss of rights or interruption of jurisdiction.

This section requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to review adjudications in the United States Immigration Courts at least once every four years as part of its existing survey of federal court business. It further requires the Judicial Conference to submit a report of its findings to the appellate division, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee, and to have the report printed in the Congressional Record.

This section redefines "immigration judge" as an immigration trial judge or immigration appeals judge serving in the United States Immigration Courts. It transfers authority in removal proceedings from the Attorney General to the Immigration Courts, immigration judges, and the Secretary of Homeland Security; updates notice, representation, evidence, and video conference rules; and replaces references to the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the Department of Homeland Security or the Government.