Sponsors (2)
The bill promises faster, more local appellate access and reduced caseloads by creating a new circuit and adding judges, but delivers those benefits at the cost of increased federal spending, significant short-term administrative disruption, and transitional legal and venue uncertainty.
Litigants with pending appeals filed in the former Ninth Circuit keep their filings and records and have cases transferred so proceedings continue without relitigation or loss of court file material.
Residents, businesses, and litigants in the affected states will face faster appeals and better local access because caseloads are redistributed, a new circuit is created, and some cases will be heard closer to home.
Appellate capacity is increased by adding judgeships and two active appellate judges for the affected circuit, reducing caseload per judge and speeding resolution of appeals.
Taxpayers will face increased federal spending with uncertain total cost because new judgeships, facility construction/expansion, and administrative restructuring lack clear dollar limits or fiscal-year detail.
Litigants, attorneys, and states may face short‑term confusion, venue changes, panel-composition uncertainty, and delays as pending appeals and precedent patterns are reassigned under new circuit boundaries.
Receiving courts, the Administrative Office, and court staff will face substantial administrative and staffing burdens (including processing transfers, elections by senior judges, and reorganizing panels), risking temporary slowdowns and staff reassignments or displacement.
Based on analysis of 13 sections of legislative text.
Splits the former Ninth Circuit into two circuits, reassigns judges by duty station, adds two judgeships, amends circuit tables, and authorizes funds and facilities to implement the reorganization.
Introduced July 21, 2025 by Michael Dean Crapo · Last progress July 21, 2025
Splits the existing Ninth Circuit into two separate circuits (a reorganized Ninth and a new Twelfth), reallocates active and senior judges based on their official duty stations, adds two new judgeships for the former Ninth Circuit with specified duty-station ranges, and adjusts federal law tables that list circuits, judges, and court locations. It also provides transitional rules for pending appeals and petitions, authorizes unspecified funds to implement the changes (including court facilities), and sets phased effective dates for different actions.