Kyl Urges Serious Consideration of Proposals to Split 9th Circuit Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Kyl recently urged that Congress seriously consider proposals to split the Ninth Federal Circuit Court into segments more comparable to its ten counterparts, calling it too big in too many ways, particularly in terms of caseload. The Ninth Circuit covers 40% of Americas land mass (stretching from northern Alaska to the Mexican border), oversees one-fifth of the population, and manages almost one-fourth of the systems total caseload - 14,842 of 63,634 filings in 2004. That caseload increased by nearly 70 percent between 2000 and 2005, compared to an average increase of 14 percent for all circuit courts. Congress has periodically exercised its constitutional responsibility to reorder the federal court system, most recently by splitting the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in half in 1980. Even back then, study commissions were recommending that the Ninth Circuit also be broken down into more manageable pieces, Kyl said at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. The split of the Fifth Circuit required the addition of only three new federal judges but quickly tripled the overall rate of processing cases. Kyl said he would expect similar results from a breakup of the Ninth Circuit, calling it too big and unwieldy to be managed efficiently. He noted that the Ninth takes nearly 40 percent longer than other circuit courts between the filing of a notice of appeal and final disposition of an average case, despite comparable workloads per individual judge. More substantively, Kyl said, the relatively few en banc decisions issued by the Ninth Circuit, and the large number of published opinions issued, make it extremely difficult for the court to speak with clarity and consistency. In some cases, a mere six judges have set precedent for the entire 28-judge circuit. In all other circuits, en banc means en banc - the full court. With so many cases decided each year, Kyl added, its unreasonable to expect each individual judge to even be able to read all of his or her colleagues work, much less that lawyers who practice in the circuit manage to stay on top of everything. All of these factors undermine the principle of certainty and consistency in the law. The nine witnesses testifying before the subcommittee included two Arizonans: Chief Judge Mary Schroeder of Phoenix and District Judge John Roll of the District Court in Tucson. Sen. Kyl serves on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees and chairs the Republican Policy Committee. Visit his website at www.kyl.senate.gov.