Federal judges using AI filed court orders with false quotes, fake names

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The erroneous filings prompted inquiries by the Senate Judiciary Committee and a call for new regulations on AI use in federal courts.

Daniel Wu
October 29, 2025

Two federal judges in New Jersey and Mississippi admitted this month that their offices used artificial intelligence to draft factually inaccurate court documents that included fake quotes and fictional litigants — drawing a rebuke from the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this from any federal court,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a Senate floor speech Monday.

The committee announced Thursday that the judges, Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi and Julien Xavier Neals of the District of New Jersey, admitted that their offices used AI in preparing the mistake-laden filings in the summer. They attributed the mistakes to a law clerk and a law school intern, respectively, according to letters the judges sent in response to a Senate inquiry.

Both faulty court documents were docketed and had to be hastily retracted after defendants alerted the judges to the errors. Neither judge explained the cause of the errors until the committee contacted them. The use of generative artificial intelligence has become more common in the U.S. judicial system. Wingate and Neal join scores of lawyers and litigants who have been rebuked for using AI to produce legal filings strewn with errors.

Legal groups are still catching up. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which supports the federal court system, issued interim guidance in July that suggests users “consider whether the use of AI should be disclosed” in judicial functions. It has also established a task force to issue additional guidance on AI use in federal courts. Grassley said Monday that federal courts need to establish rules on AI use in litigation. “I call on every judge in America to take this issue seriously and formalize measures to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence in their chambers,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/10/29/federal-judges-ai-court-orders/