AP: GOP renews push to split 9th Circuit in half

[question everything]

GOP renews push to split 9th Circuit in half

By Erica Werner
ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 27, 2005

WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress are renewing their push to break up the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the nation's largest federal appeals court, the frequent source of rulings that infuriate conservatives, has become too big to be effective... The 9th Circuit covers California and eight other states and has 28 judgeships. The circuit with the next-largest number of judges is the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, with 17.

(snip)

Murkowski(R-Alaska) and Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., have sponsored legislation to split the 9th Circuit in two. The resulting 9th Circuit would cover California, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, and a new 12th Circuit would cover Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Arizona.

(snip)

The 9th Circuit has issued a series of rulings that angered Republicans, including the 2002 opinion that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional when recited in public schools, and the 2003 ruling that the federal law outlawing marijuana does not apply to patients whose doctors have recommended the drug.

(snip)

The House Judiciary Committee will vote today on a bill by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., that would cut the circuit in two in the same way as the Senate legislation. Feinstein contended the proposals would put California at a disadvantage by leaving the populous state with disproportionately few judges.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051027/news_1n27ninth.html

[texpatriot2004]

1. Leave the frigging courts alone you bastards. n.t

[question everything]

5. Yes, this was my immediate reaction: assholes (nt)

[roguevalley]

2. murkowski is a pig. honest to god. I just despise her.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. Why the Rush

If John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is selected as Bush 44, the 9th Circuit with be the "Supreme Court of the Federated Secular Humanist States of the Pacific Northwest."

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[HereSince1628]

4. As Feinstein points out its a matter of judges per population

Ideologically, giving the Empty Quarter of the US its own circuit would essentially allow the creation of a circuit that considers almost all the mining, forestry, and public lands conflicts.

The R's would most assuredly pack that court with conservative, pro-resource extraction judges.

[ismnotwasm]

6. So transparent, It's actually sickening.

It's not even politics anymore it's the bully on the school yard. I wish the republicans would find something constructive to do. I really do. Maybe all of 'em should go volunteer at a hospice or a nursing home. Or a soup kitchen. For a significant period of time-- Something to bring them to the real world.

[struggle4progress]

7. Court packing scheme

[still_one]

8. hey repukes, soon your leaders will be tried by the courts