Congress created the United States Trustee Program in the 1980s to transfer administrative functions of the bankruptcy courts to the executive branch.

Chapter 11 debtors in Trustee Program courts pay quarterly fees throughout the duration of their case, while debtors in administrator states were exempt until 2001, when the Judicial Conference of the United States issued a standing order making the fees the same rates in both systems.

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008, in a Trustee Program district, and saw its fees dramatically increase due to the hike.

On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion reversing the Fourth Circuit as to the constitutionality of the fee increase, while remanding for consideration of what the remedy should be.

In 2024, the Supreme Court decided what the remedy should be in Office of the United States Trustee v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC.