LV judge: Hands off 9th Circuit

Alana Roberts

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.

Love it or hate it, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should not be split, a Las Vegas-based judge on the court told members of the Urban Chamber of Commerce.

"The 9th Circuit is truly strong through diversity," Johnnie Rawlinson said during a Friday luncheon. "I am convinced our diversity makes our rule of law better.

"There are people who are convinced the 9th Circuit doesn't function by rule of law. We should be encouraged there are judges who are not afraid to challenge the state of the law."

She added later that her appeals court's justices are diverse both in ethnic terms and in their experiences.

"We have former law professors, we have private practitioners -- that's what I was talking about in terms of diversity of experience," Rawlinson said.

Efforts to split the 9th Circuit are currently pending in Congress. The House voted in October to separate Nevada from the 9th Circuit and place it in its own 12th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with the more conservative states of Montana, Idaho and Arizona.

An effort to pass similar legislation in the Senate is led by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. That proposal has yet to be voted on.

Rawlinson, who worked in the Clark County district attorney's office for 18 years, was appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1998 and then to the 9th Circuit in 2000 by President Clinton.

Rawlinson said her court should remain intact and said allegations that the 9th Circuit is the most overturned court by the U.S. Supreme Court are false.

"There is a popular myth the 9th Circuit is the most reversed circuit. That is not true," Rawlinson told the Urban Chamber of Commerce.

"The second comment I have to make is the end users. The lawyers are overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal to split the 9th Circuit."

Rawlinson later declined to specify which circuit courts have had more decisions overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rep. Shelley Berkley said in a statement released after she voted against splitting the 9th Circuit that the court is in the middle of the pack when comparing the number of decisions overturned by the Supreme Court.

Rawlinson said she hasn't decided how the courts should be reorganized but said they shouldn't be split. She acknowledged that the court has a heavy caseload, with 14,000 decisions made a year.

However, she said Chief Judge Mary Schroeder and Clerk of the Court Cathy Catterson have found ways to make the court more efficient.

Rawlinson said that one way the court has improved its efficiency is that some cases are referred to panels made up of fewer judges and some cases are referred to the court's Circuit Mediation Office for resolution. She also said the use of video conferencing adds efficiency to the court's processes.

Berkley also said the court's justices are more efficient than justices in other courts, noting that justices there take 1.4 months to make a decision compared to the national average of 2.1 months.

Berkley said splitting the court would be expensive, and that the best way to address the court's heavy caseload is to add more staff and improve the court's resources.

Rawlinson stressed that the freedom to make legal decisions without fear is the bedrock of country's legal justice system.

"I don't agree with my colleagues all the time, but I think it's important that judges feel free to make the rulings they think are correct under the law," Rawlinson said.