Atlanta’s federal appeals and trial courts will sidestep furloughs or layoffs this fiscal year even though the federal sequester that took effect March 1 will reduce court budgets by 5 percent.

But the chief judges of the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Northern District of Georgia told the Daily Report that if the sequester remains in place next year, court personnel will likely face furloughs that will inevitably slow the resolution of cases.