In 1992, the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Judicial Department launched a vision project with a conference to consider the future of Oregon's courts. As an outgrowth of that conference, the Chief Justice formed the Future of the Courts Committee.
The committee worked several years to create the 1995 written vision for the Oregon courts in the year 2020, entitled Justice 2020: The New Oregon Trail. For six years, that vision statement informed and guided state court administrative, planning, budgeting, and legislative activities. In 1998, the Committee began work to renew, refresh, and update the vision.
It developed a new vision statement with values, five goals, and suggested strategies. In 2001, the Chief Justice approved the new statement Justice 2020: A Vision for Oregon's Courts. The 2001 White Paper offers more detail about the vision project and how the older vision provided a solid foundation for the new one.