Criminal Appeal

Ninth Circuit Split Dropped from Budget Bill

How Appealing has links to several news stories about Congress dropping the circuit-spit proposal from the budget bill.

Feinstein Prepared to Block Back-Door Circuit-Split: Read the 11/2/05 press release here read the Senator's entire 11/11/05 Recorder Op-Ed here (membership required). The Senator views inclusion of the split in a budget bill "a huge mistake" and she will block the entire budget bill if necessary to remove the split from a bill where it does not belong:

I believe splitting the Ninth Circuit on a budget bill is a huge mistake, denying this significant decision the consideration it deserves. It is a lose-lose proposition, one with clear financial costs and clear costs to the administration of justice. I very much regret that the House Budget Committee saw fit to take this unprecedented action. It comes during the period that the Senate Judiciary Committee is exploring a number of proposals regarding the circuit — this review should be allowed to run its course.

If a split remains on the Conference Committee report when it comes back to the Senate, it will leave Sen. Barbara Boxer and me with no other alternative but to raise a point of order, which would require supporters of the split to get 60 votes to keep the measure in the bill. This could bring down the entire bill, so it is my hope that cooler heads will prevail and the split would be removed from a bill where it does not belong.

House Bill on Split. Via How Appealing, Rep. Sensenbrenner, House Judiciary Chair, has introduced a split-the-ninth/add-some-judges bill (H.R. 4093): California & the islands remain in the 9th; everything else in the new 12th. (That's the same split proposed in S. 1845.)

Senate Hearings Tomorrow On Splitting the Ninth Circuit. Thanks to How Appealing posts here and here, I can provide this information about the pending legislation to split the Ninth Circuit.

Ninth Circuit Judges Schroeder, Wallace, O'Scannlain, and Tallman will be testifying tomorrow (Wednesday) before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The legislation, S. 2278 was introduced by Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada. There now appear to be three pending bills to split the Ninth Circuit:

S. 2278 would create a new Ninth Circuit consisting of California, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The Twelfth Circuit would include Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. The Thirteenth Circuit would contain Alaska, Washington, and Oregon.

H.R. 2723 would create a new Ninth Circuit consisting of Arizona, California and Nevada, and a new Twelfth Circuit consisting of Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, and Washington. Status: "Latest Major Action: 10/21/2003 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Subcommittee Hearings Held."

S. 562 would create a new Ninth Circuit consisting of California and Nevada, and a Twelfth Circuit consisting of Alaska, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Washington. Status: "Latest Major Action: 3/6/2003 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary."

These proposals highlight a major stumbling block: how to cut up the pie. A big reason to oppose this legislation is that Senator Ensign's motivation is not solely about judicial administration. According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun:

"Like most Nevadans, I was appalled two years ago when the 9th Circuit ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase 'Under God,' " Ensign said. "That ruling is indicative of the mindset of the court and reinforced my belief that the people of Nevada would be better served under the jurisdiction of another court."