Monday, April 5, 2004 | 11:31 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has introduced a bill that would create a new federal circuit court of appeals based in Las Vegas and remove Nevada and much of the West from the overworked and controversial U.S. 9th Circuit Court.
Ensign introduced a bill last Thursday that would break up the current federal 9th Circuit Court, which covers nine states, into three smaller circuits.
Beyond the workload though, Ensign says the courts rulings, which are often overturned by the Supreme Court, "have represented an affront to the views and values of the people of Nevada, he said.
"Like most Nevadans, I was appalled two years ago when the 9th Circuit ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase 'Under God,' " Ensign said. "That ruling is indicative of the mindset of the court and reinforced my belief that the people of Nevada would be better served under the jurisdiction of another court."
Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said the senator would like to see the court "not have such a dramatic liberal bent."
The 9th Circuit includes Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands.
Ensign said under the current system the court "simply cannot handle its caseload." The court's nine-state jurisdiction covers 57 million people, which is more than any the court.
If approved, the law would create a 12th Circuit Court handling Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Montana and 13th Circuit Court containing Alaska, Oregon and Washington. The bill leaves California, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands under the 9th Circuit
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, co-sponsored the bill. Craig and five other senators also support a bill by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would put California and Nevada in the 9th Circuit with cases heard in San Francisco and Los Angeles but create a 12th Circuit that would include Alaska, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, and Washington with sessions in Portland and Seattle.
Two other bills in the House also want to split up the court, but none require putting the court in Las Vegas. A House committee held a hearing on the issues last year, but Congress did not approve any changes.
"State likes Nevada have felt we get carried in with what happens in California," Ensign said, and that does not match how Nevadans feel about issues.
He said his bill is different from others since he proposes two circuits while the others only have one. He has had "good preliminary" discussions with other senators to get support for the bill.
Ensign said it will be hard to get the bill passed in an election year, but that laying it out now will help get support and make it ready for next year.
He introduced it last week in time for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing planned for Wednesday that will evaluate splitting the court.
"The ideology certainly plays a part of it, but you could make the argument based on the caseload itself," Ensign said.
Other members of the Nevada delegation are still reviewing the bill.
Mark Moller, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, said the change is "long overdue" and has been debated since 1973.
"It is more a procedural and administrative change that doesn't capture the attention of legislators," Moller said. "Usually when the 9th Circuit has come out with an opinion that a number of senators don't agree with and feel strongly about we see this."
Moller, who has tried cases in the 9th Circuit agrees that the court should be split, but does not like that the idea of attaching it to disagreement with a court decision.
"It's an issue of how you sell this reform," Moller said. "The 9th has gotten this reputation, the conservatives say it is liberal and it makes people think the proposal to split the 9th are just to push a political agenda."
Moller said it is a "common-sense" reform since it would let the court work better. A smaller court would let judges meet together and have more consensus on opinions than they can right now due to the court's size.
Bill Dressel, a former judge and president of the National Judicial College in Reno, said there has been concern the circuit's growing size due to the population boom in the west.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on examining efforts to split the court.
Suzanne Struglinski can be reached at 202-662-7245 or [email protected]
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