Another little known piece of legislation in the looming Budget Reconciliation Bill is an attempt by the House to destroy the 9th Circuit court. For full story in the SF Gate:
http://www.sfgate.com/...
More below, I hope I am doing the quotes correctly, I am not trying to plagarize so go read the whole thing....
Here are some excerpts from the article in the Gate:
"A little-noticed provision in the massive House budget bill would fulfill the longtime goal of conservatives to split the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, creating a new 12th circuit appellate court and allowing President Bush to name a slate of new federal judges."
...what really bothers me is the sneakyness of this, as if they are afraid to discuss the issue in the open....
" Conservatives long have claimed that the Ninth Circuit is too liberal, and that reputation was reinforced by the court's 2002 ruling that reciting the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
but of course the House is claiming pure motives..
"The proposal to split the court was not part of the Senate budget bill and is expected to be one of the many thorny issues House and Senate lawmakers will address as they try to merge the two bills over the next few weeks.
Although the effort to split the court has long been driven by ideology, sponsors of the measure say their motivation is to ease the workload of the largest federal appellate circuit in the nation.
The Ninth Circuit is larger than other circuits, covering 40 percent of the country's landmass and representing about one-fifth of the nation's population. The court has 47 active or senior judges, nearly twice the number of judges as the next largest circuit. "
but according to judges on the 9th they are managing:
"In testimony before a Senate committee last month, Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, said the court has kept pace with a mounting caseload -- most notably a five-fold increase in immigration cases over the last five years -- by skillful management of cases by court staff, an automated system for tracking filings and increased use of e-mail and videoconferencing.
"Dividing a circuit should only take place when: one, there is demonstrated proof that a circuit is not operating effectively, and two, there is a consensus among the bench and bar and public that it serves that division is the appropriate remedy," Kozinski said. "Neither of those conditions exists today."
In a recent letter to lawmakers, Carlos Bea, an appointee of President Bush to the Ninth Circuit, and two of his colleagues also argued against the plan, saying the court's "administrative efficiency is second to none."
I guess the court doesn't have much say in this:
"Of the 28 active judges on Ninth Circuit, only three have expressed support for splitting the court."
and what I think is really behind the proposal:
"Critics of the legislation believe the issue is less about the efficiency of the court and more an ideological battle waged by lawmakers who dislike the court's decisions on issues ranging from medical marijuana to the Endangered Species Act.
"It's more about this myth of activist judges and reeling in the courts," said Todd True, a Seattle-based attorney for Earthjustice, an environmental group. "This is a manifestation of the poor relationship between Congress and the judiciary and the tendency of the Congress to want to bash the judiciary."
The plan is opposed by many California officials, including Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's two Democratic senators.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein has warned that if the court split provision remains in the final budget bill, she will raise a point of order and charge that the plan violates a Senate rule requiring that amendments to a budget bill must raise revenue or cut spending. A vote of 60 senators would be required to keep the provision in the bill.
Feinstein said she believes the proposed split would hurt California and Hawaii by leaving a new Ninth Circuit with 60 percent of its current judges but 72 percent of its caseload.
"This would substantially disadvantage judges and the citizens they serve," she said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and ranking Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, also have sent Senate budget negotiators a letter opposing the provision in the budget bill, saying it first should be debated and voted on by their committee.
But the House measure got an endorsement this month from the Bush administration. The Justice Department issued a letter saying the proposal "would improve the administration of justice by providing for federal judgeships and by splitting the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit."
Court watchers speculate that the administration backs the package because it would allow the president to name dozens of new federal judges across the country, including seven new appellate court judges for the Ninth Circuit.
Cooney said Bush has already used his previous nominations to reshape the Ninth Circuit -- and he still has four vacancies to fill on the court. Cooney said the president might have trouble getting seven additional judges confirmed.
"The last two years of a two-term president are relatively slow when it comes to judicial confirmations," Cooney said. "There is no guarantee that the next president is going to be a Republican or a conservative. What happens if the next president is a liberal and he or she sends up more liberal nominations? You would essentially be packing the court with liberal judges for the next several decades."
Looks like this Budget bill may contain a lot of "surprises" like remaking the 9th Circuit, reviving the 1872 Mining Law so public land can be sold for pennies...what else don't we know about???
This administration and this Congress are so devious I just can't believe it....if they want to argue these issues, fine, I think they will lose...so instead they sneak this stuff by without letting the country know what is going on. THAT is what really burns me.