House budget sleeper splits the 9th Circuit

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/30/NINTHCIRCUIT.TMP

House budget sleeper splits the 9th Circuit

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Washington -- 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.

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 legal observers say the outcome of such a split is likely to be a more liberal court making decisions for California, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and a more conservative court serving seven other Western states now part of the Ninth Circuit -- Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona.

snip--->

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.
----more:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/30/NINTHCIRCUIT.TMP

The ultimate repuke wet-dream.

It was a little-bitty rider on an "emergency" troops-funding bill that resulted in the Real ID Card Act.

This has been a big wet dream for the Dark Side for a long time.

My only consolaton is that I'll still live in the 9th. But, bye-bye, Washington and Oregon, et al. :(

Does it have to go through the Senate? Is there any hope there?

Hekate

Latest Plan to Split 9th Circuit Aims to Sidestep Debate
Thursday November 3, 3:01 am ET
Justin Scheck, The Recorder

<snip>

While the House voted last year to split the 9th Circuit, the Senate blocked a similar bill, with even some Republicans voting against it. So the latest split proposal is structured to sidestep debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee and discussion on the floor, reaching the Senate only in the budget conference committee.

And there's an added bonus, said Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican: "Protections on the Senate side; I don't believe it's subject to filibuster."

<snip>

The reconciliation bill is a relatively rare tool and has not been used for budget cuts since 1997. Split opponents hope that a rule allowing senators to strike provisions not directly related to spending can get the split proposal dropped. But Lungren said it's not yet clear whether that rule applies.

<snip>

Chief Judge Mary Schroeder agreed. "It's just treating the courts with utter disrespect, and we have to enforce the laws," she said. "I've never heard of an attempt to bypass an entire body, a house of Congress."

More:
http://biz.yahoo.com/law/051103/fe5c537b3f9fea28b0ac29797c3a9298.html?.v=1

...my country.

And they are just relentless.

Hekate

but they are willing to grow government and increase spending by making a new permanent federal court.

I hope that this gets more and more publicized. The true believers might cheer - but that moderate wing and the independent center is likely to respond as folks did eons ago to FDR's attempt to pack the court.

too conservative, so I guess we should immediately split that in two and have two presidents and vps. Who the hell do these conservatives think they are?

"You don't want to be forced to state that you believe in God, therefore you are a liberal!"

Criminy. One of the biggest conservative Republican assholes I know is a rabid atheist.

Neither is this splitting of court.

I think we liberals are missing an important aspect about separation of church and state. That I won't go into here lest the jerks be set to flame. I should note that CONs miss the separation idea far worse than libs miss it.

Every single damn rock you lift up has something ugly and corrosive under it. Lets at least make sure our Senators know that they are being given the old runaround again..

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

this entire coast is filled up with us durn sercular humanists - you're going to need a 13th, with just idaho & utah, to fufill their dreams of faith-bsed jurisprudence.

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.

Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules! :sarcasm:

set a precedent for stacking the courts!

then, when we have a democratic president and senate, we can expand the supreme court to 15 members!

BRING IT ON!!