[5][6] With the establishment of the Administrative Office and the circuit judicial councils, Congress, for the first time, provided the judiciary with budgetary and personnel management agencies that were independent of the executive branch of government.

By the early twentieth century, some judges expressed concern that the Justice Department's administrative oversight of the courts was ineffective and, more importantly, posed the threat of interference with the judicial process.

After the defeat of Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes responded to suggestions for less sweeping administrative changes.

He appointed members of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges to work with representatives of the American Bar Association and Justice Department officials to draft legislation that would improve the efficiency of the courts while respecting the decentralized character of the federal judicial system.

Still, at the insistence of Chief Justice Hughes, the office was to operate under the supervision of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges rather than the Court.

The committee proposal found broad support in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which considered several versions before passage in August 1939.

In preparation for the planned retirement of Director Roslynn R. Mauskopf on January 31, 2024, Chief Justice John Roberts, on January 23, 2024, appointed Western District of NC senior judge Robert J. Conrad to be the next director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts effective March 1, 2024.