House move to split 9th Circuit opposed
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 10, 2005
WASHINGTON – The Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced their opposition yesterday to a House GOP move to fast-track a breakup of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
House Republicans are including a split of the San Francisco-based court, which covers nine Western states, in a budget-reduction bill that could win House approval as soon as today and would be immune from Senate filibuster. The 9th Circuit measure wasn't in the Senate's version of the budget bill, and opposition from key senators could keep it out of the final version of the bill crafted by House and Senate negotiators.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., declared their opposition to the House move in a letter released by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a staunch opponent to breaking up the court. "The reorganization of appellate circuits is a major policy initiative and would impact the system of justice for millions of Americans. The issue is squarely under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee and any budgetary issues are merely incidental," Specter and Leahy wrote to the leaders of the Senate Budget Committee.
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