Calendar No. 260

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 956

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to divide

into two circuits, and for other purposes.the ninth judicial circuit of the United States

DECEMBER 7, 1995

Reported with an amendment
II

Calendar No. 260

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 956

To amend title 28, United States Code, to divide the ninth judicial circuit

of the United States into two circuits, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 22 (legislative day, JUNE 19), 1995

Mr. GORTON (for himself, Mr. BURNS, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. STEVENS, Mr.

KEMPTHORNE, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. PACKWOOD, and Mr. HATFIELD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

DECEMBER 7, 1995

Reported by Mr. HATCH, with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to divide the ninth

judicial circuit of the United States into two circuits,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ninth Circuit Court

5 of Appeals Reorganization Act of 1995’’.
2

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1 SEC. 2. NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF CIRCUITS.

2 Section 41 of title 28, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) in the matter before the table, by striking

5 out ‘‘thirteen’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘four6 teen’’;

7 (2) in the table, by striking out the item relat8 ing to the ninth circuit and inserting in lieu thereof

9 the following new item:

‘‘Ninth ........................................... Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada,

Guam, Northern Mariana Islands.’’;

10 and

11 (3) between the last 2 items of the table, by in12 serting the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth ........................................ Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,

Washington.’’.

13 SEC. 3. NUMBER OF CIRCUIT JUDGES.

14 The table in section 44(a) of title 28, United States

15 Code, is amended—

16 (1) by striking out the item relating to the

17 ninth circuit and inserting in lieu thereof the follow18 ing new item:

‘‘Ninth ....................................................................................................... 19’’;

19 and

20 (2) by inserting between the last 2 items at the

21 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth .................................................................................................... 9’’.
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1 SEC. 4. PLACES OF CIRCUIT COURT.

2 The table in section 48 of title 28, United States

3 Code, is amended—

4 (1) by striking out the item relating to the

5 ninth circuit and inserting in lieu thereof the follow6 ing new item:

‘‘Ninth ........................................... San Francisco, Los Angeles.’’;

7 and

8 (2) by inserting between the last 2 items at the

9 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth ........................................ Portland, Seattle.’’.

10 SEC. 5. ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES.

11 Each circuit judge in regular active service of the

12 former ninth circuit whose official station on the day be13 fore the effective date of this Act—

14 (1) is in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada,

15 Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands is assigned

16 as a circuit judge of the new ninth circuit; and

17 (2) is in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or

18 Washington is assigned as a circuit judge of the

19 twelfth circuit.

20 SEC. 6. ELECTION OF ASSIGNMENT BY SENIOR JUDGES.

21 Each judge who is a senior judge of the former ninth

22 circuit on the day before the effective date of this Act may

23 elect to be assigned to the new ninth circuit or to the

24 twelfth circuit and shall notify the Director of the Admin-
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1 istrative Office of the United States Courts of such elec2 tion.

3 SEC. 7. SENIORITY OF JUDGES.

4 The seniority of each judge—

5 (1) who is assigned under section 5 of this Act;

6 or

7 (2) who elects to be assigned under section 6 of

8 this Act;

9 shall run from the date of commission of such judge as

10 a judge of the former ninth circuit.

11 SEC. 8. APPLICATION TO CASES.

12 The provisions of the following paragraphs of this

13 section apply to any case in which, on the day before the

14 effective date of this Act, an appeal or other proceeding

15 has been filed with the former ninth circuit:

16 (1) If the matter has been submitted for deci17 sion, further proceedings in respect of the matter

18 shall be had in the same manner and with the same

19 effect as if this Act had not been enacted.

20 (2) If the matter has not been submitted for de21 cision, the appeal or proceeding, together with the

22 original papers, printed records, and record entries

23 duly certified, shall, by appropriate orders, be trans24 ferred to the court to which it would have gone had

25 this Act been in full force and effect at the time
5

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1 such appeal was taken or other proceeding com2 menced, and further proceedings in respect of the

3 case shall be had in the same manner and with the

4 same effect as if the appeal or other proceeding had

5 been filed in such court.

6 (3) A petition for rehearing or a petition for re7 hearing en banc in a matter decided before the effec8 tive date of this Act, or submitted before the effec9 tive date of this Act and decided on or after the ef10 fective date as provided in paragraph (1) of this sec11 tion, shall be treated in the same manner and with

12 the same effect as though this Act had not been en13 acted. If a petition for rehearing en banc is granted,

14 the matter shall be reheard by a court comprised as

15 though this Act had not been enacted.

16 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

17 For purposes of this Act, the term—

18 (1) ‘‘former ninth circuit’’ means the ninth ju19 dicial circuit of the United States as in existence on

20 the day before the effective date of this Act;

21 (2) ‘‘new ninth circuit’’ means the ninth judicial

22 circuit of the United States established by the

23 amendment made by section 2(2) of this Act; and
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1 (3) ‘‘twelfth circuit’’ means the twelfth judicial

2 circuit of the United States established by the

3 amendment made by section 2(3) of this Act.

4 SEC. 10. ADMINISTRATION.

5 The court of appeals for the ninth circuit as con6 stituted on the day before the effective date of this Act

7 may take such administrative action as may be required

8 to carry out this Act. Such court shall cease to exist for

9 administrative purposes on July 1, 1997.

10 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE.

11 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

12 become effective on October 1, 1995.

13 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

14 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ninth Circuit Court of

15 Appeals Reorganization Act of 1995’’.

16 SEC. 2. NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF CIRCUITS.

17 Section 41 of title 28, United States Code, is

18 amended—

19 (1) in the matter before the table, by striking out

20 ‘‘thirteen’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘fourteen’’;

21 (2) in the table, by striking out the item relating

22 to the ninth circuit and inserting in lieu thereof the

23 following new item:

‘‘Ninth ............................................... California, Hawaii, Guam, Northern

Mariana Islands.’’;

24 and
7

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1 (3) between the last 2 items of the table, by in2 serting the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth ............................................ Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington.’’.

3 SEC. 3. NUMBER OF CIRCUIT JUDGES.

4 The table in section 44(a) of title 28, United States

5 Code, is amended—

6 (1) by striking out the item relating to the ninth

7 circuit and inserting in lieu thereof the following new

8 item:

‘‘Ninth ............................................................................................................... 15’’;

9 and

10 (2) by inserting between the last 2 items at the

11 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth ............................................................................................................ 13’’.

12 SEC. 4. PLACES OF CIRCUIT COURT.

13 The table in section 48 of title 28, United States Code,

14 is amended—

15 (1) by striking out the item relating to the ninth

16 circuit and inserting in lieu thereof the following new

17 item:

‘‘Ninth ............................................... San Francisco, Los Angeles.’’;

18 and

19 (2) by inserting between the last 2 items at the

20 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Twelfth ............................................ Portland, Seattle, Phoenix.’’.
8

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1 SEC. 5. ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES AND CLERK OF

2 THE COURT.

3 (a) CIRCUIT JUDGES.—No later than 60 days after the

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the judicial council for

5 the former ninth circuit shall make assignments of the cir6 cuit judges of the former ninth circuit to the new ninth cir7 cuit and the twelfth circuit, consistent with the provisions

8 of this Act.

9 (b) CLERK OF THE COURT.—The Clerk of the Court

10 for the Twelfth Circuit United States Court of Appeals shall

11 be located in Phoenix, Arizona.

12 SEC. 6. ELECTION OF ASSIGNMENT BY SENIOR JUDGES.

13 Each judge who is a senior judge of the former ninth

14 circuit on the day before the effective date of this Act may

15 elect to be assigned to the new ninth circuit or to the twelfth

16 circuit and shall notify the Director of the Administrative

17 Office of the United States Courts of such election.

18 SEC. 7. SENIORITY OF JUDGES.

19 The seniority of each judge—

20 (1) who is assigned under section 5 of this Act;

21 or

22 (2) who elects to be assigned under section 6 of

23 this Act;

24 shall run from the date of commission of such judge as a

25 judge of the former ninth circuit.
9

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1 SEC. 8. APPLICATION TO CASES.

2 The provisions of the following paragraphs of this sec3 tion apply to any case in which, on the day before the effec4 tive date of this Act, an appeal or other proceeding has been

5 filed with the former ninth circuit:

6 (1) If the matter has been submitted for decision,

7 further proceedings in respect of the matter shall be

8 had in the same manner and with the same effect as

9 if this Act had not been enacted.

10 (2) If the matter has not been submitted for deci11 sion, the appeal or proceeding, together with the origi12 nal papers, printed records, and record entries duly

13 certified, shall, by appropriate orders, be transferred

14 to the court to which it would have gone had this Act

15 been in full force and effect at the time such appeal

16 was taken or other proceeding commenced, and fur17 ther proceedings in respect of the case shall be had in

18 the same manner and with the same effect as if the

19 appeal or other proceeding had been filed in such

20 court.

21 (3) A petition for rehearing or a petition for re22 hearing en banc in a matter decided before the effec23 tive date of this Act, or submitted before the effective

24 date of this Act and decided on or after the effective

25 date as provided in paragraph (1) of this section,

26 shall be treated in the same manner and with the
10

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1 same effect as though this Act had not been enacted.

2 If a petition for rehearing en banc is granted, the

3 matter shall be reheard by a court comprised as

4 though this Act had not been enacted.

5 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

6 For purposes of this Act, the term—

7 (1) ‘‘former ninth circuit’’ means the ninth judi8 cial circuit of the United States as in existence on the

9 day before the effective date of this Act;

10 (2) ‘‘new ninth circuit’’ means the ninth judicial

11 circuit of the United States established by the amend12 ment made by section 2(2) of this Act; and

13 (3) ‘‘twelfth circuit’’ means the twelfth judicial

14 circuit of the United States established by the amend15 ment made by section 2(3) of this Act.

16 SEC. 10. ADMINISTRATION.

17 The court of appeals for the ninth circuit as con18 stituted on the day before the effective date of this Act may

19 take such administrative action as may be required to carry

20 out this Act. Such court shall cease to exist for administra21 tive purposes on July 1, 1997.

22 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE.

23 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

24 take effect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this

25 Act.