Whether growth in filings in the courts of appeals approach the dire predictions in the Proposed Long Range Plan for the federal courts in its worst case scenario or whether the growth will be of more modest proportions remains to be seen. An increasing population, a cyclical economy, new federal legislation, the social tension inherent in a multicultural society, and the impact of technological development will all contribute to increased filings in the federal courts. Congress will not deviate in any significant degree from its consistent course over the past forty years. There will be no significant areas of jurisdictional reduction. The Congress will continue to sporadically create new civil causes of action and to federalize traditional state crimes.
Fewer circuits are better than more circuits.
It is difficult to justify more than ten independent federal law-creating entities. Increasing the number of circuits will inevitably increase circuit splits in authority. The Supreme Court is stretched to its limit today in its capacity to resolve circuit splits, thereby compromising its ability to maintain uniformity of law in the federal courts. Ten circuits provide more than a fertile field for law development through the percolative effect in the circuits. There is a direct inverse correlation between the size of a court of appeals and its ability to speak with one voice.