Are the days of the 9th court of appeals numbred?

[Deleted]

Court long a target of GOP----Conservatives Push For Breakup


The 3 federal appeals court judges who decided to postpone California's recall election are going to make convenient targets for Republicans who are crying foul.

Judges Harry Pregerson, Richard Paez and Sidney Thomas are all Democratic appointees and members of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has gained notoriety over the years for its liberal reputation and controversial rulings, including a 2002 decision striking down the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

Liberal label

Conservatives have pushed for years to break up the court -- which covers 9 western states and is by far the largest in the country. Critics say it regularly ignores Supreme Court precedent and presses a liberal judicial agenda. But supporters and many legal scholars are quick to defend the court for its independence and willingness to take unpopular positions that elected state court judges duck. Federal judges are appointed for life.

Of the 3 judges in the recall case, Pregerson is perhaps the best known, having served on the sprawling 9th Circuit since his appointment in 1979 by former President Carter. An inveterate liberal, Pregerson has openly criticized the death penalty in his tart opinions and earlier this year took the unusual step of writing that he could not "in good conscience" obey U.S. Supreme Court precedent on California's "3 strikes you're out" law.

The 79-year-old Pregerson, often seen sporting a cowboy hat when off the bench, is an ex-Marine who has opened homeless shelters in Los Angeles. Legal experts were not surprised that he would be bold enough to stall the recall and put the issue in the Supreme Court's lap. It was Pregerson's repeated efforts to stay the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris that finally forced the Supreme Court to take the unprecedented step of ordering the 9th Circuit to take no further action in the case.

Thomas and Paez are newer members of the court, both appointees of former President Clinton and considered more moderate than Pregerson. The professorial-looking Thomas, appointed to the court 7 years ago, is a Montanan who practiced a variety of civil law and yet was backed by the state's conservative Republican senator, Conrad Burns.

Sentences overturned

As a judge, Thomas, 50, has been considered by legal experts to be a fairly typical Clinton appointee, a moderate who can flash a liberal streak. He wrote the opinion several weeks ago that effectively overturned more than 100 death sentences in Arizona, Idaho and Montana.

Paez, 56, has been on the 9th Circuit just three years, having endured an extraordinarily long confirmation battle in the Senate, where Republicans opposed him because they believed he would be too liberal. A former legal aid lawyer, he served as a federal district judge in Los Angeles for 6 years.

Like Thomas, Paez is not always predictable but has written some major opinions that reveal an occasional liberal streak, notably a ruling last year in which the court found life sentences for non-violent offenses under California's 3-strikes law cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling.

[Donnie]

No

[Deleted]

While the federal justices are appointed for life, the circuits could be reorganized so that they don't sit on the same circuit.