Grassley Scrutinizes Federal Judges’ Apparent AI Use in Drafting Error-Ridden Rulings

Grassley Scrutinizes Federal Judges' Apparent AI Use in Drafting Error-Ridden Rulings

WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to two federal judges regarding their alleged use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to draft court orders with little to no human verification. Grassley's oversight inquiry follows public reporting that U.S. District of Mississippi Judge Henry T. Wingate and U.S. District of New Jersey Judge Julien Xavier Neals issued court orders containing serious factual inaccuracies, prompting allegations of AI use.

"As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to safeguarding litigants' rights and ensuring that every party in federal court receives fair treatment and careful review by the Article III judges confirmed by the Senate," Grassley wrote.

"No less than the attorneys who appear before them, judges must be held to the highest standards of integrity, candor, and factual accuracy. Indeed, Article III judges should be held to a higher standard, given the binding force of their rulings on the rights and obligations of litigants before them," Grassley continued.

Grassley is asking Wingate and Neals explain whether they, their law clerks or any court staff used generative AI - or entered non-public case information into generative AI tools - in preparing their decisions. Further, Grassley called on the district judges to re-docket their original orders to preserve a transparent history of the Courts' actions.

Read Grassley's letter to Wingate HERE and letter to Neals HERE.

Background:

On July 20, 2025, Wingate issued a temporary restraining order pausing a state law that prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools. The defendants, represented by the Attorney General of Mississippi, then filed a motion raising concerns about serious inaccuracies in the order, including: (1) naming plaintiffs and defendants that weren't parties in the case; (2) misquoting state law; (3) making factually inaccurate statements that weren't supported by the record; and (4) referencing four individuals who don't appear in the case. In response to this motion, Wingate replaced his order with a backdated "corrected" version, removed the original order from the public docket and declined to explain the errors, dismissing the mistakes as "clerical."

On July 23, 2025, Neals withdrew his decision in a biopharma securities case after defendants' counsel identified instances where the Court: (1) attributed inaccurate quotes to defendants; (2) relied on quotes attributed to decisions that didn't actually contain such quotes; and (3) misstated the outcomes of cited cases - indicating that motions to dismiss were denied when, in reality, they were granted. Additional reporting notes that "a person familiar with the matter" explained "that a temporary assistant" in Neals' court had "used an artificial intelligence platform" in drafting the original decision, and "that the opinion was inadvertently issued before a review process was able to catch errors introduced by AI."

The Senate Judiciary Committee has broad oversight and legislative jurisdiction over civil and criminal judicial proceedings, the federal courts, federal judges and other related matters. Substantive errors, like those found in the decisions of Wingate and Neals, cast doubt on the Judiciary's deliberative process and raise legitimate concerns about the accuracy of courts' decisions.

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