HJR 29: Relating to the division of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29 01 Relating to the division of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 WHEREAS the State of Alaska is within the jurisdiction of the United States Court 04 of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and 05 WHEREAS the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit consists of the States of 06 Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and 07 Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands; and 08 WHEREAS United States Senators Murkowski of Alaska and Gorton of Washington 09 have introduced S. 253, a bill that would amend Title 28 of the United States Code to divide 10 the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into three regional divisions and a fourth circuit 11 division, and that has the short title of the "Federal Ninth Circuit Reorganization Act of 1999"; 12 and 13 WHEREAS S. 253 proposes to place the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, 14 and Washington within one regional division of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and
01 to place the other states and territories, possessions, and protectorates into two other regional 02 divisions; and 03 WHEREAS S. 253 proposes to adopt the recommendations of a Congressionally 04 mandated commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, that studied 05 the realignment of the federal courts of appeal; the recommendations were made in a report 06 issued in December 1998; and 07 WHEREAS the membership of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is heavily 08 weighted toward the State of California and the court seems to concern itself predominately 09 with issues arising out of California and the southwestern United States; and 10 WHEREAS the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's case filings are consistently 11 either greater than any other federal circuit or among the greatest; and 12 WHEREAS the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is the largest of the 13 circuit 13 courts of appeal, spanning 1,400,000 square miles, and is larger than the First, Second, Third, 14 Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits combined; and 15 WHEREAS the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit serves a population of more 16 than 49,000,000 people, almost 60 percent more than any other federal circuit; and 17 WHEREAS members of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit have shown a 18 surprising lack of understanding of Alaska's people and geography that has resulted in 19 decisions that have often caused the people of Alaska unnecessary hardship; and 20 WHEREAS, in the so-called "Katie John" subsistence case, which is of tremendous 21 importance to the people of the State of Alaska, even though the Court of Appeals for the 22 Ninth Circuit granted expedited consideration of that case, the court did not issue its decision 23 for over 13 months; and 24 WHEREAS the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit consistently ranks at or near 25 the bottom of the circuits in time from the filing of a case in the district court to final 26 disposition in the court appeals; and 27 WHEREAS Attorney General Bruce Botelho has estimated that there are more than 28 200 Alaska cases currently pending before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and 29 WHEREAS, previously, the Attorneys General of the States of Idaho, Montana, 30 Oregon, and Washington have also found that similar issues of unnecessary delay concerning, 31 lack of understanding of, and lack of consideration for cases and issues by the Court of
01 Appeals for the Ninth Circuit exist in regard to those states; and 02 WHEREAS the division of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into regions 03 would benefit the States of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington by providing 04 speedier and more consistent rulings by jurists who have a greater familiarity with the social, 05 geographical, political, and economic life of the region; 06 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports S. 253 and the division 07 of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into regional divisions with one region consisting 08 of the States of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington headquartered in the Pacific 09 Northwest; and respectfully requests the United States Congress to act in an expeditious 10 manner. 11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President 12 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, 13 President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the 14 U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; 15 the Honorable Dick Armey, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 16 Honorable Thomas Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Richard A. 17 Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Orrin G. 18 Hatch, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; the Honorable Henry J. Hyde, 19 Chair of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and 20 the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 21 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.