As the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has just struck down Trump's executive order on the travel ban, Republicans are simultaneously moving to pass a bill that will split the court up.
According to Fox News, Arizona Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain have introduced legislation that will take six states out of the court, and create a whole new 12th Circuit. According to Flake, the court is overburdened, bloated, and slow.
“It represents 20 percent of the population -- and 40 percent of the land mass is in that jurisdiction. It’s just too big,” Flake told Fox News on Wednesday. “We have a bedrock principle of swift justice and if you live in Arizona or anywhere in the 9th Circuit, you just don’t have it.”
Conservatives have never been a fan of the court, which is alleged to have a notorious left wing bias due to 18 of the court's 25 judges being appointed by Democrats. It has earned the nickname "the nutty 9th" by those on the right due to this, and the fact that many of its rulings have been overturned by the Supreme Court.
The 9th Circuit was created in 1891 when the area was very sparse with only four percent of the population. Today, it contains 20 percent. This is why Flake believes it's time to split the court up, and lessen its power.
Under Flake’s bill, the new circuit would cover Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and Alaska, leaving the 9th with three Pacific states as well as the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.
The problem, as Flake mentions, is that the judges of the 9th Circuit will not want to give up their jurisdiction.
