Sponsor
Jamie Ben Raskin
Representative · D-MD
Representative · D-MD
The bill reallocates early Supreme Court gatekeeping to rotating circuit-judge panels to increase speed, predictability, and transparency and reduce the Court's docket, at the cost of shifting administrative authority away from the Justices, risking inconsistency and confidentiality concerns, and adding administrative expense.
Federal circuit judges (and the federal judiciary overall) will share review of Supreme Court certiorari petitions through a predictable, rotating panel, spreading workload and reducing the Supreme Court's docket and backlog.
State courts, litigants, and court administrators may get faster and more predictable initial handling of cert petitions because assignment is centralized and the panel must hold monthly sessions and may use electronic proceedings.
Taxpayers and the public could see greater transparency about why certiorari is granted through required written reasons for grants and an annual public report on the process.
Taxpayers and the judicial branch: the bill removes sole administrative discretion over certiorari from the Supreme Court justices and shifts gatekeeping authority to rotating panels, altering longstanding judicial-administrative separation.
State governments, litigants, and the uniformity of federal law risk inconsistent standards or ideological swings because randomly rotating circuit judges — not the Supreme Court — decide which cases reach the Court.
Taxpayers will face added administrative costs to run the selection mechanism, staff the panel, and develop rules (burden on the AOUSC and Judicial Conference).
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a 13-member circuit-judge panel to decide certiorari petitions, require brief reasons for grants, and publish an annual report.
Official title: To establish a panel to review certiorari petitions, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 21, 2026 by Jamie Ben Raskin · Last progress May 21, 2026
Creates a new 13-member panel of circuit judges to review and decide petitions for writs of certiorari that would otherwise be presented directly to the Supreme Court. The panel is randomly composed at the start of each Court term, may grant or deny certiorari (a grant requires four panel members), must provide brief written reasons for grants, issue an annual public report, and follow specified administrative and ethics procedures. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) provides staffing, implements random selection, and keeps public records; the Judicial Conference must promulgate implementing rules within one year. A severability clause preserves remaining provisions if any part is held invalid.