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Idaho lawmakers say they will challenge California senators over 9th Circuit seats
The AP via The Contra Costa Times ^ | February 19, 2006 | Kyle Arnold

Posted on 02/19/2006 8:28:23 AM PST by new yorker 77

BOISE, Idaho - Members of Idaho's congressional delegation say they'll fight California's two U.S. senators over their claim to a vacancy on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after President Bush picked an Idaho judge for the spot.

In December, Bush nominated Idaho 6th District Judge Randy Smith of Pocatello to the San Francisco-based appeals court, which covers nine Western states with a combined population of 58 million people. The court has 28 full-time judges, and its retired judges often consider cases as well.

Smith was nominated to replace Judge Stephen Trott, who moved to Idaho from California after his appointment. Trott declared senior status in December 2004 -- the equivalent of retirement for federal judges -- and since then, Idaho has not had an active judge on the court.

Another Idaho resident also has been nominated to the court. Boise attorney William Myers was tapped by Bush three years ago to succeed Tom Nelson, who took senior status in 2003. Myers' confirmation has been held up by a filibuster threat.

Two seats on the 9th Circuit bench is too many for a state as small as Idaho, say California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

"The bottom line is that Idaho, with two judges, will be vastly over-represented compared to its caseload or population," Feinstein said in a letter to Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Larry Craig, both Republicans.

Feinstein and Boxer also asked Bush to nominate a Californian for the seat previously held by Trott.

"For more than 30 years, this judgeship has been occupied by a Californian," they said in a Dec. 15 letter to Bush, the day before Smith's nomination was announced. "Both the judicial needs of the 9th Circuit and its historical precedents dictate that this judgeship should stay in California."

Idaho has 1.4 million people. California, with 35.9 million residents, has 14 judges on the 9th Circuit.

On Wednesday, Bush nominated two California lawyers to other seats on the 9th Circuit.

The 9th Circuit does much of its work in three-judge panels. The Idaho senators say that practice gives California a 90 percent chance to have a home-state judge on a case.

Statistically, with two judges, an Idaho judge would weigh in on one in 14 decisions, on average.

Tradition holds that new judges are selected from the same state as the one creating the vacancy. But the seats technically do not belong to any state, said Steve Calandrillo, a University of Washington law professor who follows the 9th Circuit.

The seat Smith was selected for was created in 1935 and originally held by judges from Washington and Oregon. When Trott, a Virginia resident, was appointed, he chose San Francisco for his home but later moved to Idaho.

Calandrillo said while he was a clerk on the 9th Circuit, there were no complaints when Judge Margaret McKeown moved her office from Seattle to San Diego.

"That's because (Feinstein and Boxer) agreed with the politics," he said.

Calandrillo said the opposition from California could be a based on the possibility Smith would add conservative weight on the court. Smith is a former chairman of the Idaho Republican Party.

House Republicans, arguing the 9th Circuit has gotten too big to be effective, attempted last year to split it into two circuits. Opponents alleged political motives, contending Republicans were annoyed by 9th Circuit rulings, including a 2002 opinion that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional when recited in public schools. The proposal was defeated.

Instead of breaking up the court, Feinstein asked Crapo and Craig to join her in a proposal to add seven seats to the 9th Circuit.

One judge each would be appointed from Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii -- and California would be given three additional spots. She said that would lighten the caseload of judges and give more spots to less populated states.

© 2006 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 9thcircuit; boxer; california; feinstein; idaho

1 posted on 02/19/2006 8:28:25 AM PST by new yorker 77
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To: new yorker 77
So much for "minority representation" when it doesn't come down your driveway.
2 posted on 02/19/2006 8:37:54 AM PST by digger48
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To: new yorker 77

WTF does the state have to do with Federal judgeships?


3 posted on 02/19/2006 8:48:45 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: bill1952

And whats going on when RETIRED judges are hearing cases?


4 posted on 02/19/2006 9:03:40 AM PST by Farmer Dean (Every time a toilet flushes,another liberal gets his brains.)
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To: Farmer Dean
Yeah, I've seen it before, and I always assumed that it means that they are legally & formally retired, but that they can still hear cases if they want to.

If the nominees would just get hearings and up or down votes, we wouldn't have this problem.

Abolish the filibuster of the 3rd branch nominees and let the chips fall where they may.

might make a few people more interested in the consequences of elections.
5 posted on 02/19/2006 9:14:37 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: new yorker 77
The 9th Circus needs to be broken up. Covering CA, OR, WA, AZ, MT, ID, NV, AK, HI is tooooooo much territory - period.

Conservative god fearing Americans in Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada and the eastern part of Washington are having the commie perversions of CA atheist queers shoved down their throats (pun intended).

So leave the 9th covering the perverts in Kali-fornication, the pot heads in Oregon and the Hawaiian hula girls. Then create a new 12th Circuit for Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Washington (just to tick off Seattle) and for the fourteen people residing in Alaska (joking).

This would also benefit SCOTUS as then they wouldn't be bombarded with the moronic decisions coming from the 9th - which as we know, they constantly overturn.

So come on Congress and you Arlen, get on the ball. Make your Judicary Committee useful.

6 posted on 02/19/2006 9:18:06 AM PST by Condor51 (Better to fight for something than live for nothing - Gen. George S. Patton)
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To: new yorker 77

Two questions from a Montanan without benefit of legal training OR sublety:

- After all the time and effort that went into the Constitutional-oblique stroke-Nuclear Option, could there be a better time or place to use it?

- What's a nice lawyerly way to tell the Viceregal California Senateresses to fold that notion three times any way they like and stick it up their nose?


7 posted on 02/19/2006 10:58:15 AM PST by Unrepentant VN Vet (Target too close for missiles; switching to guns.)
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To: bill1952

"WTF does the state have to do with Federal judgeships?"

ROFLMAO.. you question those fine legal scholars from CA?


8 posted on 02/19/2006 2:34:41 PM PST by Smartaleck
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To: new yorker 77

Seems Randy Smith is a US citizen nominated to a US court, I wonder what California's problem is? Oh yeah, he might act in the interests of the United States instead of communist China, now I remember.


9 posted on 02/19/2006 2:40:35 PM PST by Navy Patriot
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