Fix the Court has sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Defense seeking information on any age-related wellness policies and programs it may have for its (Article I) military judges, both those who preside over courts martial and those who hear appeals.

Currently, several (Article III) U.S. courts of appeals have wellness policies and judicial wellness committee, but the body that oversees federal court policies, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, has refused to implement a nationwide initiative aimed at promoting health and mitigating cognitive decline in an aging corps of federal judges.

The best known circuit-based wellness initiative is the Ninth Circuit’s Judicial Wellness Committee, which encourages aging jurists to undergo mental health assessments, hosts neurological experts to speak about the warning signs of impairment and has a hotline where concerned court staff and judges can get advice about dealing with signs of aging.

In addition to courts martial, the U.S. military has several appeals courts: the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the latter of which hears appeals from the four aforementioned intermediate courts.