Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB634 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 634
5	5	To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the appointment
6	6	of additional Federal circuit judges, to divide the Ninth Judicial Circuit
7	7	of the United States into two judicial circuits, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY22, 2025
10	10	Mr. S
11	11	IMPSON(for himself and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill;
12	12	which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the
15	15	appointment of additional Federal circuit judges, to di-
16	16	vide the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States
17	17	into two judicial circuits, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ninth Circuit Court 4
22	22	of Appeals Judgeship and Reorganization Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
24	24	In this Act— 7
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27	27	•HR 634 IH
28	28	(1) the term ‘‘former ninth circuit’’ means the 1
29	29	ninth judicial circuit of the United States as in ex-2
30	30	istence on the day before the effective date of this 3
31	31	Act; 4
32	32	(2) the term ‘‘new ninth circuit’’ means the 5
33	33	ninth judicial circuit of the United States established 6
34	34	by the amendment made by section 3(2)(A); and 7
35	35	(3) the term ‘‘twelfth circuit’’ means the twelfth 8
36	36	judicial circuit of the United States established by 9
37	37	the amendment made by section 3(2)(B). 10
38	38	SEC. 3. NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF CIRCUITS. 11
39	39	Section 41 of title 28, United States Code, is amend-12
40	40	ed— 13
41	41	(1) in the matter preceding the table, by strik-14
42	42	ing ‘‘thirteen’’ and inserting ‘‘fourteen’’; and 15
43	43	(2) in the table— 16
44	44	(A) by striking the item relating to the 17
45	45	ninth circuit and inserting the following: 18
46	46	‘‘Ninth .................................................. California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern
47	47	Mariana Islands.’’;
48	48	and 19
49	49	(B) by inserting after the item relating to 20
50	50	the eleventh circuit the following: 21
51	51	‘‘Twelfth ............................................... Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne-
52	52	vada, Oregon, Washington.’’.
53	53	SEC. 4. JUDGESHIPS.
54	54	22
55	55	(a) N
56	56	EWJUDGESHIPS.— 23
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59	59	•HR 634 IH
60	60	(1) FOR FORMER NINTH CIRCUIT .—The Presi-1
61	61	dent shall appoint, by and with the advice and con-2
62	62	sent of the Senate, 2 additional circuit judges for 3
63	63	the former ninth circuit. The official duty station of 4
64	64	a judge appointed under this paragraph shall be in 5
65	65	Arizona, California, or Nevada. 6
66	66	(2) F
67	67	OR NEW NINTH CIRCUIT .—The President 7
68	68	shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of 8
69	69	the Senate, 3 circuit judges for the new ninth cir-9
70	70	cuit. The judges authorized by this paragraph shall 10
71	71	not be appointed before January 21, 2025. 11
72	72	(b) T
73	73	EMPORARYJUDGESHIPS.— 12
74	74	(1) A
75	75	PPOINTMENT OF JUDGES .—The President 13
76	76	shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of 14
77	77	the Senate, 2 additional circuit judges for the former 15
78	78	ninth circuit. The official duty station of a judge ap-16
79	79	pointed under this paragraph shall be in Arizona, 17
80	80	California, or Nevada. 18
81	81	(2) E
82	82	FFECT OF VACANCIES.—The first 2 vacan-19
83	83	cies occurring on the new ninth circuit 10 years or 20
84	84	more after judges are first confirmed to fill both 21
85	85	temporary circuit judgeships created by this sub-22
86	86	section shall not be filled. 23
87	87	(c) E
88	88	FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take effect 24
89	89	on the date of the enactment of this Act. 25
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93	93	SEC. 5. NUMBER OF CIRCUIT JUDGES. 1
94	94	The table contained in section 44(a) of title 28, 2
95	95	United States Code, is amended— 3
96	96	(1) by striking the item relating to the ninth 4
97	97	circuit and inserting the following: 5
98	98	‘‘Ninth ............................................................................................ 25’’;
99	99	and 6
100	100	(2) by inserting after the item relating to the 7
101	101	eleventh circuit the following: 8
102	102	‘‘Twelfth ......................................................................................... 9’’.
103	103	SEC. 6. PLACES OF CIRCUIT COURT.
104	104	9
105	105	The table contained in section 48(a) of title 28, 10
106	106	United States Code, is amended— 11
107	107	(1) by striking the item relating to the ninth 12
108	108	circuit and inserting the following: 13
109	109	‘‘Ninth .................................................. Honolulu, San Francisco, Pasadena.’’;
110	110	and 14
111	111	(2) by inserting after the item relating to the 15
112	112	eleventh circuit the following: 16
113	113	‘‘Twelfth ............................................... Phoenix, Seattle.’’.
114	114	SEC. 7. ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES.
115	115	17
116	116	(a) I
117	117	NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 18
118	118	(b), each circuit judge of the former ninth circuit who is 19
119	119	in regular active service and whose official duty station 20
120	120	on the day before the effective date of this Act— 21
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123	123	•HR 634 IH
124	124	(1) is in California, Guam, Hawaii, or the 1
125	125	Northern Mariana Islands shall be a circuit judge of 2
126	126	the new ninth circuit as of such effective date; and 3
127	127	(2) is in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Ne-4
128	128	vada, Oregon, or Washington shall be a circuit judge 5
129	129	of the twelfth circuit as of such effective date. 6
130	130	(b) S
131	131	PECIALRULETOENSURESTATUTORYDIS-7
132	132	TRIBUTION OF JUDGES.—If the assignment of judges 8
133	133	under subsection (a) would result in a number of judges 9
134	134	in either the new ninth circuit or the twelfth circuit that 10
135	135	exceeds the number provided for that circuit in the table 11
136	136	contained in section 44(a) of title 28, United States Code, 12
137	137	as amended by section 5 of this Act, then a number of 13
138	138	judges accounting for such excess who are the least senior 14
139	139	in commission shall be assigned to the other circuit. 15
140	140	SEC. 8. ELECTION OF ASSIGNMENT BY SENIOR JUDGES. 16
141	141	Each judge who is a senior circuit judge of the former 17
142	142	ninth circuit on the day before the effective date of this 18
143	143	Act may elect to be assigned to the new ninth circuit or 19
144	144	to the twelfth circuit as of such effective date, and shall 20
145	145	notify the Director of the Administrative Office of the 21
146	146	United States Courts of such election. 22
147	147	SEC. 9. SENIORITY OF JUDGES. 23
148	148	The seniority of each judge— 24
149	149	(1) who is assigned under section 7, or 25
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153	153	(2) who elects to be assigned under section 8, 1
154	154	shall run from the date of commission of such judge as 2
155	155	a judge of the former ninth circuit. 3
156	156	SEC. 10. APPLICATION TO CASES. 4
157	157	The following apply to any case in which, on the day 5
158	158	before the effective date of this Act, an appeal or other 6
159	159	proceeding has been filed with the former ninth circuit: 7
160	160	(1) If the matter has been submitted for deci-8
161	161	sion, further proceedings with respect to the matter 9
162	162	shall be had in the same manner and with the same 10
163	163	effect as if this Act had not been enacted. 11
164	164	(2) If the matter has not been submitted for de-12
165	165	cision, the appeal or proceeding, together with the 13
166	166	original papers, printed records, and record entries 14
167	167	duly certified, shall, by appropriate orders, be trans-15
168	168	ferred to the court to which the matter would have 16
169	169	been submitted had this Act been in full force and 17
170	170	effect at the time such appeal was taken or other 18
171	171	proceeding commenced, and further proceedings with 19
172	172	respect to the case shall be had in the same manner 20
173	173	and with the same effect as if the appeal or other 21
174	174	proceeding had been filed in such court. 22
175	175	(3) A petition for rehearing or a petition for re-23
176	176	hearing en banc in a matter decided before the effec-24
177	177	tive date of this Act, or submitted before the effec-25
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181	181	tive date of this Act and decided on or after such 1
182	182	effective date as provided in paragraph (1), shall be 2
183	183	treated in the same manner and with the same effect 3
184	184	as though this Act had not been enacted. If a peti-4
185	185	tion for rehearing en banc is granted, the matter 5
186	186	shall be reheard by a court comprised as though this 6
187	187	Act had not been enacted. 7
188	188	SEC. 11. TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT OF CIRCUIT JUDGES 8
189	189	BETWEEN CIRCUITS. 9
190	190	Section 291 of title 28, United States Code, is 10
191	191	amended by adding at the end the following new sub-11
192	192	sections: 12
193	193	‘‘(c) The chief judge of the ninth circuit may, in the 13
194	194	public interest and upon request by the chief judge of the 14
195	195	twelfth circuit, designate and assign temporarily any cir-15
196	196	cuit judge of the ninth circuit to act as circuit judge in 16
197	197	the twelfth circuit. 17
198	198	‘‘(d) The chief judge of the twelfth circuit may, in 18
199	199	the public interest and upon request by the chief judge 19
200	200	of the ninth circuit, designate and assign temporarily any 20
201	201	circuit judge of the twelfth circuit to act as circuit judge 21
202	202	in the ninth circuit.’’. 22
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206	206	SEC. 12. TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT OF DISTRICT JUDGES 1
207	207	BETWEEN CIRCUITS. 2
208	208	Section 292 of title 28, United States Code, is 3
209	209	amended by adding at the end the following new sub-4
210	210	sections: 5
211	211	‘‘(f) The chief judge of the ninth circuit may in the 6
212	212	public interest— 7
213	213	‘‘(1) upon request by the chief judge of the 8
214	214	twelfth circuit, designate and assign one or more 9
215	215	district judges within the ninth circuit to sit upon 10
216	216	the Court of Appeals of the Twelfth Circuit or a di-11
217	217	vision thereof whenever the business of that court so 12
218	218	requires; and 13
219	219	‘‘(2) designate and assign temporarily any dis-14
220	220	trict judge of the ninth circuit to hold a district 15
221	221	court in any district within the twelfth circuit. 16
222	222	‘‘(g) The chief judge of the twelfth circuit may in the 17
223	223	public interest— 18
224	224	‘‘(1) upon request by the chief judge of the 19
225	225	ninth circuit, designate and assign one or more dis-20
226	226	trict judges within the twelfth circuit to sit upon the 21
227	227	Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit or a division 22
228	228	thereof whenever the business of that court so re-23
229	229	quires; and 24
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233	233	‘‘(2) designate and assign temporarily any dis-1
234	234	trict judge of the twelfth circuit to hold a district 2
235	235	court in any district within the ninth circuit. 3
236	236	‘‘(h) Any designation and assignment of a judge 4
237	237	under subsection (f)(1) or (g)(1) shall be in conformity 5
238	238	with the rules or orders of the court of appeals of the cir-6
239	239	cuit to which the judge is designated and assigned.’’. 7
240	240	SEC. 13. ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATION. 8
241	241	Section 332 of title 28, United States Code, is 9
242	242	amended by adding at the end the following new sub-10
243	243	section: 11
244	244	‘‘(i) Any 2 contiguous circuits may jointly carry out 12
245	245	such administrative functions and activities as the judicial 13
246	246	councils of the 2 circuits determine may benefit from co-14
247	247	ordination or consolidation.’’. 15
248	248	SEC. 14. ADMINISTRATION. 16
249	249	The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 17
250	250	Circuit as constituted on the day before the effective date 18
251	251	of this Act may take such administrative action as may 19
252	252	be required to carry out this Act and the amendments 20
253	253	made by this Act. Such court shall cease to exist for ad-21
254	254	ministrative purposes upon the expiration of the 2-year pe-22
255	255	riod beginning on the effective date of this Act. 23
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259	259	SEC. 15. EFFECTIVE DATE. 1
260	260	Except as provided in section 4(c), this Act and the 2
261	261	amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the first 3
262	262	day of the first fiscal year that begins after the expiration 4
263	263	of the 9-month period beginning on the first date on which 5
264	264	5 of the judges authorized to be appointed under section 6
265	265	4 have been confirmed by the United States Senate. 7
266	266	SEC. 16. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 8
267	267	There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 9
268	268	as may be necessary to carry out this Act, including funds 10
269	269	for additional court facilities. 11
270	270	Æ
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