Stacking the Deck
Nov 30th, 2005 at 9:34 am by Susie
Doesn’t this sound suspiciously like judicial activism?
Washington — A little-noticed provision in the massive House budget bill would fulfill the longtime goal of conservatives to split the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, creating a new 12th circuit appellate court and allowing President Bush to name a slate of new federal judges.
Conservatives long have claimed that the Ninth Circuit is too liberal, and that reputation was reinforced by the court’s 2002 ruling that reciting the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
But legal observers say the outcome of such a split is likely to be a more liberal court making decisions for California, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and a more conservative court serving seven other Western states now part of the Ninth Circuit — Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. [...]
Critics of the legislation believe the issue is less about the efficiency of the court and more an ideological battle waged by lawmakers who dislike the court’s decisions on issues ranging from medical marijuana to the Endangered Species Act.
FYI, link is wrong. Where did this come from?