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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Supreme Court Rulings

Lawyers are frequently commenting these days on how many times the 9th Circuit is being reversed by the Supreme Court. However, the problem may not be due to a more "liberal" court in California, Washington, and Oregon, but rather because that court has gotten too big to be consistent with itself.

The 9th Circuit has 28 regular judges and another 22 senior judges. That is more than twice the number of judges of the average Circuit. By comparison, the 1st Circuit in New England has only 6 regular judges. The 11th, which includes Florida, Alabama, and Georgia has 13.

Only 3 judges sit on any one panel. With so many judges, it is difficult for all the panels, which are often ruling on similar questions of law, to be completely consistent. Their case load is huge. In 2004 they had almost 15,000 cases filed, which is three times the national average.

Courts are supposed to resolve their own conflicts through en banc hearings, but the 9th is too big to sit en banc, so only 11 of the 28 judges sit when the court has an en banc hearing. Perhaps they should call it and en demi-banc hearing.

It's long past time to split this Circuit into two, or even three smaller Circuits. My vote? Split off California entirely and attach Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Marianna Islands to it. Group Washington, Oregon, and Alaska together. Give the Mountain States another Circuit. That type of split will enable the West Coast courts to operate effectively for a couple of decades.