II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1878
To increase the number of judgeships for the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit and certain district courts of the United States,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE8, 2023
Mr. S
ULLIVAN(for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DAINES, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and
Mr. R
ISCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To increase the number of judgeships for the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and certain dis-
trict courts of the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judicial Efficiency Im-4
provement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) F
ORMER NINTH CIRCUIT .—The term 8
‘‘former ninth circuit’’ means the ninth judicial cir-9
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cuit of the United States as in existence on the day 1
before the effective date of this Act. 2
(2) N
EW NINTH CIRCUIT .—The term ‘‘new 3
ninth circuit’’ means the ninth judicial circuit of the 4
United States established by the amendment made 5
by section 3(2)(A). 6
(3) T
WELFTH CIRCUIT.—The term ‘‘twelfth cir-7
cuit’’ means the twelfth judicial circuit of the United 8
States established by the amendment made by sec-9
tion 3(2)(B). 10
SEC. 3. NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF CIRCUITS. 11
Section 41 of title 28, United States Code, is amend-12
ed— 13
(1) in the matter preceding the table, by strik-14
ing ‘‘thirteen’’ and inserting ‘‘fourteen’’; and 15
(2) in the table— 16
(A) by striking the item relating to the 17
ninth circuit and inserting the following: 18
‘‘Ninth ........................................... California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern
Mariana Islands.’’;
and 19
(B) by inserting after the item relating to 20
the eleventh circuit the following: 21
‘‘Twelfth ........................................ Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne-
vada, Oregon, Washington.’’.
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SEC. 4. CIRCUIT COURT JUDGESHIPS. 1
(a) N
EWJUDGESHIPS.—The President shall appoint, 2
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 2 addi-3
tional circuit judges for the new ninth circuit, whose offi-4
cial duty station shall be in California. 5
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take effect 6
on the date of enactment of this Act. 7
SEC. 5. NUMBER OF CIRCUIT JUDGES. 8
The table in section 44(a) of title 28, United States 9
Code, is amended— 10
(1) by striking the item relating to the ninth 11
circuit and inserting the following: 12
‘‘Ninth ..................................................................................................... 18’’;
and 13
(2) by inserting after the item relating to the 14
eleventh circuit the following: 15
‘‘Twelfth .................................................................................................. 13’’.
SEC. 6. PLACES OF CIRCUIT COURT.
16
The table in section 48(a) of title 28, United States 17
Code, is amended— 18
(1) by striking the item relating to the ninth 19
circuit and inserting the following: 20
‘‘Ninth ........................................... Honolulu, Pasadena, San Fran-
cisco.’’;
and 21
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(2) by inserting after the item relating to the 1
eleventh circuit the following: 2
‘‘Twelfth ........................................ Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Se-
attle.’’.
SEC. 7. LOCATION OF TWELFTH CIRCUIT HEADQUARTERS.
3
The offices of the Circuit Executive of the Twelfth 4
Circuit and the Clerk of the Court of the Twelfth Circuit 5
shall be located in Seattle, Washington. 6
SEC. 8. ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES. 7
Each circuit judge of the former ninth circuit who 8
is in regular active service and whose official duty station 9
on the day before the effective date of this Act— 10
(1) is in California, Guam, Hawaii, or the 11
Northern Mariana Islands shall be a circuit judge of 12
the new ninth circuit as of that effective date; and 13
(2) is in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne-14
vada, Oregon, or Washington shall be a circuit judge 15
of the twelfth circuit as of that effective date. 16
SEC. 9. ELECTION OF ASSIGNMENT BY SENIOR JUDGES. 17
Each judge who is a senior circuit judge of the former 18
ninth circuit on the day before the effective date of this 19
Act— 20
(1) may elect to be assigned to the new ninth 21
circuit or the twelfth circuit as of that effective date; 22
and 23
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(2) shall notify the Director of the Administra-1
tive Office of the United States Courts of the elec-2
tion made under paragraph (1). 3
SEC. 10. SENIORITY OF JUDGES. 4
The seniority of each judge who is assigned under 5
section 8 or elects to be assigned under section 9 shall 6
run from the date of commission of the judge as a judge 7
of the former ninth circuit. 8
SEC. 11. APPLICATION TO CASES. 9
The following apply to any case in which, on the day 10
before the effective date of this Act, an appeal or other 11
proceeding has been filed with the former ninth circuit: 12
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), if the 13
matter has been submitted for decision, further pro-14
ceedings with respect to the matter shall be had in 15
the same manner and with the same effect as if this 16
Act had not been enacted. 17
(2) If the matter has not been submitted for de-18
cision, the appeal or proceeding, together with the 19
original papers, printed records, and record entries 20
duly certified, shall, by appropriate orders, be trans-21
ferred to the court to which the matter would have 22
been submitted had this Act been in full force and 23
effect on the date on which the appeal was taken or 24
other proceeding commenced, and further pro-25
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ceedings with respect to the case shall be had in the 1
same manner and with the same effect as if the ap-2
peal or other proceeding had been filed in that court. 3
(3) If a petition for rehearing en banc is pend-4
ing on or after the effective date of this Act, the pe-5
tition shall be considered by the court of appeals to 6
which the petition would have been submitted had 7
this Act been in full force and effect on the date on 8
which the appeal or other proceeding was filed with 9
the court of appeals. 10
SEC. 12. TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES 11
AMONG CIRCUITS. 12
Section 291 of title 28, United States Code, is 13
amended by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(c) The chief judge of the United States Court of 15
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit may, in the public interest 16
and upon request by the chief judge of the United States 17
Court of Appeals for the Twelfth Circuit, designate and 18
assign temporarily any circuit judge of the Ninth Circuit 19
to act as circuit judge in the Twelfth Circuit. 20
‘‘(d) The chief judge of the United States Court of 21
Appeals for the Twelfth Circuit may, in the public interest 22
and upon request by the chief judge of the United States 23
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, designate and as-24
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sign temporarily any circuit judge of the Twelfth Circuit 1
to act as circuit judge in the Ninth Circuit.’’. 2
SEC. 13. TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT OF DISTRICT JUDGES 3
AMONG CIRCUITS. 4
Section 292 of title 28, United States Code, is 5
amended by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(f) The chief judge of the United States Court of 7
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit may in the public interest— 8
‘‘(1) upon request by the chief judge of the 9
United States Court of Appeals for the Twelfth Cir-10
cuit, designate and assign one or more district 11
judges of the Ninth Circuit to sit upon the Court of 12
Appeals of the Twelfth Circuit, or a division thereof, 13
whenever the business of that court so requires; and 14
‘‘(2) designate and assign temporarily any dis-15
trict judge of the Ninth Circuit to hold a district 16
court in any district within the Twelfth Circuit. 17
‘‘(g) The chief judge of the United States Court of 18
Appeals for the Twelfth Circuit may in the public inter-19
est— 20
‘‘(1) upon request by the chief judge of the 21
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Cir-22
cuit, designate and assign one or more district 23
judges of the Twelfth Circuit to sit upon the Court 24
of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit, or a division there-25
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of, whenever the business of that court so requires; 1
and 2
‘‘(2) designate and assign temporarily any dis-3
trict judge of the Twelfth Circuit to hold a district 4
court in any district within the Ninth Circuit. 5
‘‘(h) Any designation or assignment under subsection 6
(f) or (g) shall be in conformity with the rules or orders 7
of the court of appeals of, or the district within, as applica-8
ble, the circuit to which the judge is designated or as-9
signed.’’. 10
SEC. 14. DISTRICT JUDGES FOR THE DISTRICT COURTS. 11
(a) A
DDITIONALJUDGESHIPS.—The President shall 12
appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen-13
ate— 14
(1) 2 additional district judges for the district 15
of Arizona; 16
(2) 9 additional district judges for the central 17
district of California; 18
(3) 4 additional district judges for the eastern 19
district of California; 20
(4) 6 additional district judges for the northern 21
district of California; 22
(5) 2 additional district judges for the southern 23
district of California; 24
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(6) 2 additional district judges for the district 1
of Colorado; 2
(7) 2 additional district judges for the district 3
of Delaware; 4
(8) 5 additional district judges for the middle 5
district of Florida; 6
(9) 1 additional district judge for the northern 7
district of Florida; 8
(10) 3 additional district judges for the south-9
ern district of Florida; 10
(11) 2 additional district judges for the north-11
ern district of Georgia; 12
(12) 1 additional district judge for the district 13
of Idaho; 14
(13) 1 additional district judge for the southern 15
district of Indiana; 16
(14) 1 additional district judge for the northern 17
district of Iowa; 18
(15) 1 additional district judge for the district 19
of Nebraska; 20
(16) 3 additional district judges for the district 21
of New Jersey; 22
(17) 2 additional district judges for the eastern 23
district of New York; 24
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(18) 2 additional district judges for the south-1
ern district of New York; 2
(19) 1 additional district judge for the western 3
district of New York; 4
(20) 2 additional district judges for the eastern 5
district of Oklahoma; 6
(21) 1 additional district judge for the northern 7
district of Oklahoma; 8
(22) 2 additional district judges for the eastern 9
district of Texas; 10
(23) 1 additional district judge for the northern 11
district of Texas; 12
(24) 4 additional district judges for the south-13
ern district of Texas; and 14
(25) 6 additional district judges for the western 15
district of Texas. 16
(b) E
XTENSION OFTEMPORARYJUDGESHIPS.—Sec-17
tion 203(c) of the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990 18
(Public Law 101–650; 28 U.S.C. 133 note) is amended, 19
in second sentence of the matter following paragraph (12), 20
by striking ‘‘31 years’’ and inserting ‘‘36 years’’. 21
(c) C
ONVERSION OFTEMPORARYJUDGESHIPS.—The 22
existing judgeship for the eastern district of Missouri au-23
thorized by section 203(c) of the Judicial Improvements 24
Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–650; 28 U.S.C. 133 note) 25
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and the existing judgeships for the district of Arizona, the 1
central district of California, the southern district of Flor-2
ida, the district of New Mexico, the western district of 3
North Carolina, and the eastern district of Texas author-4
ized by section 312(c) of the 21st Century Department 5
of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act (Public Law 6
107–273, 28 U.S.C. 133 note), as of the date of enact-7
ment of this Act, shall be authorized under section 133 8
of title 28, United States Code, and the incumbents in 9
those offices shall hold the office under section 133 of title 10
28, United States Code, as amended by this Act. 11
(d) T
ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 12
The table contained in section 133(a) of title 28, United 13
States Code, is amended— 14
(1) by striking the item relating to the district 15
of Arizona and inserting the following: 16
‘‘Arizona ................................................................. 15’’;
(2) by striking the items relating to California 17
and inserting the following: 18
‘‘California:
Northern ................................................................. 20
Eastern ................................................................... 10
Central .................................................................... 37
Southern ................................................................. 15’’;
(3) by striking the item relating to the district 19
of Colorado and inserting the following: 20
‘‘Colorado ............................................................... 9’’;
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(4) by striking the item relating to the district 1
of Delaware and inserting the following: 2
‘‘Delaware ............................................................... 6’’;
(5) by striking the items relating to Florida and 3
inserting the following: 4
‘‘Florida:
Northern ................................................................. 5
Middle ..................................................................... 20
Southern ................................................................. 21’’;
(6) by striking the items relating to Georgia 5
and inserting the following: 6
‘‘Georgia:
Northern ................................................................. 13
Middle ..................................................................... 4
Southern ................................................................. 3’’;
(7) by striking the item relating to Idaho and 7
inserting the following: 8
‘‘Idaho .................................................................... 3’’;
(8) by striking the items relating to Indiana 9
and inserting the following: 10
‘‘Indiana:
Northern ................................................................. 5
Southern ................................................................. 6’’;
(9) by striking the items relating to Indiana 11
and inserting the following: 12
‘‘Iowa:
Northern ................................................................. 3
Southern ................................................................. 3’’;
(10) by striking the items relating to Nebraska 13
and inserting the following: 14
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‘‘Nebraska .............................................................. 4’’;
(11) by striking the item relating to New Jer-1
sey and inserting the following: 2
‘‘New Jersey ........................................................... 20’’;
(12) by striking the items relating to New York 3
and inserting the following: 4
‘‘New York:
Southern ................................................................. 30
Eastern ................................................................... 17
Western .................................................................. 5’’;
(13) by striking the items relating to Oklahoma 5
and inserting the following: 6
‘‘North Carolina:
Eastern ................................................................... 3.5
Northern ................................................................. 4.5’’;
and 7
(14) by striking the items relating to Texas and 8
inserting the following: 9
‘‘Texas:
Northern ................................................................. 13
Southern ................................................................. 23
Eastern ................................................................... 10
Western .................................................................. 19’’.
SEC. 15. ADMINISTRATION.
10
(a) T
RANSITIONAUTHORITY.—The court of appeals 11
for the ninth circuit as constituted on the day before the 12
effective date of this Act may take any administrative ac-13
tion that is required to carry out this Act and the amend-14
ments made by this Act. 15
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(b) ADMINISTRATIVETERMINATION.—The court de-1
scribed in subsection (a) shall cease to exist for adminis-2
trative purposes 2 years after the date of enactment of 3
this Act. 4
SEC. 16. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 5
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 6
as may be necessary to carry out this Act, including funds 7
for additional court facilities. 8
SEC. 17. EFFECTIVE DATE. 9
Except as provided in section 4(c), this Act and the 10
amendments made by this Act shall take effect 1 year 11
after the date of enactment of this Act. 12
Æ
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