Sponsors (2)
This bill aims to speed appellate justice and reduce caseload pressure by creating a new circuit and reorganizing judgeships and locations, but it does so at the cost of higher taxpayer spending, significant short-term administrative disruption, and some legal uncertainty during the transition.
Residents and litigants in the affected states and territories (CA, AK, AZ, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, HI, GU) will face smaller appellate caseloads and faster resolution of appeals because the bill creates a new circuit and reallocates cases and judges.
Federal courts and staff gain clearer statutory organization and an outlined transition process (updated circuit locations, automatic judge assignments, senior-judge choices, two-year winding-down, and centralized Administrative Office notices), improving administrative predictability during the reorganization.
Parties with cases already submitted (and rehearing petitions filed around the effective date) keep their expected forum and have their rehearing petitions handled under the prior rules, protecting litigants from abrupt procedural changes.
Taxpayers will face increased federal costs — both one-time transitional expenses and ongoing costs for new judgeships, facilities, and court support — because the bill permits new positions and open-ended facility funding.
Courts receiving transferred cases and courts implementing the reorganization will face substantial administrative and workload burdens that can slow other dockets and cause short-term delays for litigants.
The reorganization may create legal uncertainty about precedent, venue, and judicial composition (including treatment of rehearing en banc), prompting additional motions, transfers, or appeals that can delay final outcomes for parties.
Based on analysis of 13 sections of legislative text.
Splits the Ninth Circuit into a new Ninth Circuit and a Twelfth Circuit, reallocates judges and pending cases, adds two judgeships, updates circuit statutes, and authorizes implementation funding.
Introduced July 21, 2025 by Michael Dean Crapo · Last progress July 21, 2025
Creates a structural split of the current Ninth Circuit into two circuits (a reconstituted Ninth Circuit and a new Twelfth Circuit), moves judges and pending cases to the appropriate new circuit based mainly on each judge’s official duty station, adds two new circuit judgeships, updates the statutory circuit tables and places of court, and authorizes unspecified funding for implementation and new court facilities. The bill sets a general one-year delayed effective date with some immediate provisions and special transitional rules for pending appeals, rehearing petitions, judge assignments, and administrative implementation.