Judicial Reorganization Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1797 To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the appointment of additional Federal circuit judges, to divide the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States into two judicial circuits, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. DAINES, Ms. MCSALLY, Ms. MUR- KOWSKI, and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the appointment of additional Federal circuit judges, to di- vide the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States into two judicial circuits, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judicial Reorganiza- 4 tion Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1797 IS (1) the term ‘‘former Ninth Circuit’’ means the 1 ninth judicial circuit of the United States as in ex- 2 istence on the day before the effective date of this 3 Act; 4 (2) the term ‘‘new Ninth Circuit’’ means the 5 ninth judicial circuit of the United States established 6 by the amendment made by section 3(2)(A); and 7 (3) the term ‘‘Twelfth Circuit’’ means the 8 twelfth judicial circuit of the United States estab- 9 lished by the amendment made by section 3(2)(B). 10 SEC. 3. NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF CIRCUITS. 11 Section 41 of title 28, United States Code, is amend- 12 ed— 13 (1) in the matter preceding the table, by strik- 14 ing ‘‘thirteen’’ and inserting ‘‘fourteen’’; and 15 (2) in the table— 16 (A) by striking the item relating to the 17 Ninth Circuit and inserting the following: 18 ‘‘Ninth .................................................. California, Guam, Hawaii.’’; and 19 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 20 the Eleventh Circuit the following: 21 ‘‘Twelfth ............................................... Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne- vada, Oregon, Washington.’’. SEC. 4. JUDGESHIPS. 22 (a) NEW JUDGESHIPS.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1797 IS (1) FOR FORMER NINTH CIRCUIT.—The Presi- 1 dent shall appoint, by and with the advice and con- 2 sent of the Senate— 3 (A) 4 additional circuit court judges for 4 the former Ninth Circuit, whose official duty 5 station shall be in California, Guam, or Hawaii; 6 and 7 (B) 1 additional circuit court judge for the 8 former Ninth Circuit, whose official duty sta- 9 tion shall be in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Mon- 10 tana, Nevada, Oregon, or Washington. 11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 12 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 13 SEC. 5. NUMBER OF CIRCUIT JUDGES. 14 The table contained in section 44(a) of title 28, 15 United States Code, is amended— 16 (1) by striking the item relating to the Ninth 17 Circuit and inserting the following: 18 ‘‘Ninth ............................................................................................ 21’’; and 19 (2) by inserting after the item relating to the 20 Eleventh Circuit the following: 21 ‘‘Twelfth ......................................................................................... 13’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1797 IS SEC. 6. PLACES OF CIRCUIT COURT. 1 The table contained in section 48(a) of title 28, 2 United States Code, is amended— 3 (1) by striking the item relating to the Ninth 4 Circuit and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘Ninth .................................................. Honolulu, San Francisco, Pasadena.’’; and 6 (2) by inserting after the item relating to the 7 Eleventh Circuit the following: 8 ‘‘Twelfth ............................................... Phoenix, Seattle, Portland.’’. SEC. 7. ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each circuit judge of the former 10 Ninth circuit who is in regular active service and whose 11 official duty station on the day before the effective date 12 of this Act— 13 (1) is in California, Guam, or Hawaii shall be 14 a circuit judge of the new Ninth Circuit as of such 15 effective date; and 16 (2) is in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne- 17 vada, Oregon, or Washington shall be a circuit judge 18 of the Twelfth Circuit as of such effective date. 19 SEC. 8. ELECTION OF ASSIGNMENT BY SENIOR JUDGES. 20 Each judge who is a senior circuit judge of the former 21 Ninth Circuit on the day before the effective date of this 22 Act may elect to be assigned to the new Ninth Circuit or 23 to the Twelfth Circuit as of such effective date, and shall 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1797 IS notify the Director of the Administrative Office of the 1 United States Courts of such election. 2 SEC. 9. SENIORITY OF JUDGES. 3 The seniority of each judge— 4 (1) who is assigned under section 7; or 5 (2) who elects to be assigned under section 8, 6 shall run from the date of commission of such judge as 7 a judge of the former Ninth Circuit. 8 SEC. 10. APPLICATION TO CASES. 9 The following apply to any case in which, on the day 10 before the effective date of this Act, an appeal or other 11 proceeding has been filed with the former Ninth Circuit: 12 (1) If the matter has been submitted for deci- 13 sion, further proceedings with respect to the matter 14 shall be had in the same manner and with the same 15 effect as if this Act had not been enacted. 16 (2) If the matter has not been submitted for de- 17 cision, the appeal or proceeding, together with the 18 original papers, printed records, and record entries 19 duly certified, shall, by appropriate orders, be trans- 20 ferred to the court to which the matter would have 21 been submitted had this Act been in full force and 22 effect at the time such appeal was taken or other 23 proceeding commenced, and further proceedings with 24 respect to the case shall be had in the same manner 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1797 IS and with the same effect as if the appeal or other 1 proceeding had been filed in such court. 2 (3) A petition for rehearing or a petition for re- 3 hearing en banc in a matter decided before the effec- 4 tive date of this Act, or submitted before the effec- 5 tive date of this Act and decided on or after such 6 effective date as provided in paragraph (1), shall be 7 treated in the same manner and with the same effect 8 as though this Act had not been enacted. If a peti- 9 tion for rehearing en banc is granted, the matter 10 shall be reheard by a court comprised as though this 11 Act had not been enacted. 12 SEC. 11. ADMINISTRATION. 13 The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 14 Circuit as constituted on the day before the effective date 15 of this Act may take such administrative action as may 16 be required to carry out this Act and the amendments 17 made by this Act. Such court shall cease to exist for ad- 18 ministrative purposes upon the expiration of the 2-year pe- 19 riod beginning on the effective date of this Act. 20 SEC. 12. EFFECTIVE DATE. 21 Except as provided in section 4(b), this Act and the 22 amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date 23 that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1797 IS SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 2 as may be necessary to carry out this Act, including funds 3 for additional court facilities. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1797.IS S1797 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS