in World News Judges fight move to break up 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
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Judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are urging senators not to pass legislation to break up that district, which President Trump said was in a state of “chaos.”
Two judges met privately with Republican senators in Washington recently to urge opposition to a court-splitting bill proposed by Republican Arizona Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain, according to multiple GOP Senate aides. Flake’s staff said the judges also have requested a meeting with Flake.
Trump trashed the 9th Circuit last month after its three-judge panel blocked implementation of his immigration ban. Trump also touted the court’s high reversal rate, a statistic cited by the legislation’s authors in explaining why dividing the court is necessary.
Flake and McCain’s legislation pits the Republican authors of the bill against two GOP-appointed federal judges: Ronald Reagan-appointed Alex Kozinski and George W. Bush-appointed Carlos Bea, who made the trip to Washington. Persuadable Republican senators caught in the crosshairs could determine the court’s fate.
The Judicial Administration and Improvement Act of 2017 would create a new 12th Circuit Court of Appeals covering Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Washington state. The states remaining in the new 9th Circuit would include California, Oregon, Hawaii and the territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
“By bringing Arizona, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Washington together under a 12th “Mountain Circuit,” we will alleviate the 9th Circuit’s enormous caseload and create two smaller appellate courts; where a single, dysfunctional court stood before, we will establish a stronger one — and with stronger local, regional and cultural ties,” Flake wrote in a joint op-ed with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who also supports the effort. “A fair and functioning judiciary is one of the pillars upon which our democracy rests. When we see that pillar begin to erode, elected officials have a responsibility to act. That’s what we’re doing.”
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did not respond to requests for comment about the judges’ opposition effort against the senators’ legislation, but the appeals court’s public information office previously said the 9th Circuit was highly opposed to a split.
Winston Bowman, an associate historian at the Federal Judicial Center, said historical precedent exists for judges to lobby Congress on pending legislation, “though such practices have typically been fairly rare” and are confined to questions involving the courts.
The White House has yet to publicly weigh in on the fate of the western federal appeals court, but there’s no love lost between Trump and the 9th Circuit. The western appeals court’s perception as liberal has made it a favorite whipping boy of conservatives — Rush Limbaugh styles it the “Ninth Circus.”