Lucy Marvin's Maritime Musings: ALJ Budgeting for the FMC

Editors' Note: Lucy is the newest member of The Commission Blog editorial team and joins Holland & Knight to bolster our maritime, rail and road efforts as part of the Public Policy & Regulation Group and Federal Government Affairs Practice. As FMC Managing Director during the Biden and second Trump Administrations, Holland & Knight has turned The Commission Blog over to Lucy to share her invaluable insights each day during the week of July 20, 2026. These efforts kick off Holland & Knight's celebration of the FMC's 65th anniversary on August 12, 2026, with an industry event (more details to follow).

As the FMC's former managing director, I always had great appreciation for the thoughtful and skilled work of the agency's Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ). My admiration has only grown now that I represent complex industry interests involved in cases before these capable triers of shipping justice. For those readers not familiar, the OALJ is a small tribunal handling increasingly consequential disputes involving ocean carriers, marine terminal operators, shippers and other supply chain participants. With an ever-increasing caseload of multifaceted, high-dollar disputes and a Commission with an increased eye for enforcement actions that could morph into future adjudications, the OALJ is busier than ever.

When I first became managing director in 2021, there was only one administrative law judge (ALJ). Seven ALJs are currently serving at the Commission, but only three are permanent FMC judges; four are temporarily detailed until the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (See Holland & Knight's previous blog post, "FMC Personnel Update: Appointment of New Chair and Two Additional ALJs," February 2, 2026.) Two of the newest judges temporarily added to the OALJ appear to be primarily managing the FMC's ever-growing small claims docket. The FMC's OALJ workforce remains remarkably lean: As of September 2025, OALJ had only six permanent employees – its three ALJs, a small claims officer, an attorney advisor and a legal assistant. Moreover, the ALJs do not have dedicated law clerks to assist with legal research, record review and drafting decisions. During the hiring freeze, the Commission halted its regular summer intern program, which appears to have only recently resumed. By comparison, Article III district judges generally have three full-time law clerks, and magistrate judges generally have two.

Speaking of, at the FMC, there is no concept of a magistrate judge as in federal court to address the increasing level of discovery disputes between private parties (let alone private parties and the FMC's Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance). This is all the more challenging because the FMC borrows from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to fill any gaps with the FMC rules when making determinations. ALJs are juggling working on initial decisions, just to be interrupted by an urgent issue concerning a deposition or document disclosure; it is a challenging balancing act. Though the temporary judicial details have helped the Commission manage its caseload, they do not replace the permanent legal and administrative support necessary for a sustainable adjudicatory system.

The workload data presents a compelling case for additional support. The OALJ saw an extreme uptick in caseload spawned primarily from litigation over the reasonableness of demurrage and detention charges arising from the pandemic-era supply chain disruptions. The annual docket, including formal and small claims proceedings carried over or received during the year, grew from approximately 20 matters in FY 2020 to 78 in FY 2024 and an estimated 83 in FY 2025 – more than four times the 2020 level. The Commission processed 1,754 adjudicatory filings in FY 2025 compared with 918 only two years earlier, and OALJ issued more than 291 orders, with some cases involving multiple parties and tens of thousands of shipments. Demurrage and detention litigation will sort itself out on certain issues before the next industry emergency. But remember that the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) expanded the FMC's oversight and prohibited conduct subject to investigations and private party complaints before the ALJs. So my prediction is that investigatory matters will be a new and potentially significant source of disputes to fall on the OALJ's docket.

The FMC judges' need for support is far from unique. When U.S. Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appeared before U.S. House of Representatives appropriators on July 14, 2026, to discuss the Supreme Court's FY 2027 budget, staffing and support resources were among the hearing's central subjects – an acknowledgment that timely, independent adjudication requires more than judges alone.

As Congress considers the FMC's FY 2027 appropriation, including the flat $40 million budget provided in the pending House's FY 2027 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, policymakers should likewise consider whether the Commission's judges have the permanent law clerk and administrative support needed to resolve an increasingly complex docket fairly and efficiently. This is a bipartisan issue: Shippers, intermediaries and ocean carriers all look to the FMC to assist with Shipping Act and OSRA violations. If the OALJs do not have the assistance of law clerks or new ALJs to meet the considerable industry demands, cases will linger on their dockets and potentially impede companies from seeking relief, or companies with modest-sized disputes may feel compelled to settle for a smaller percentage recovery than they should just to avoid the delay. The shipping industry is fully supportive of proper funding to assist the FMC, and I expect this message will be conveyed on Capitol Hill by a wide range of shipping interests. Stay tuned.