[ OUR OPINION ]
Political tomfoolery
risks Hawaii judge slot
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The 9th Circuit revamp should be stripped from the bill so the original intent of the bill can be restored and enacted. Congress was expected to adjourn after this weekend, leaving a possible lame duck session in November as the only means to rescue the legislation and create the fourth bench seat in Hawaii.
The 9th Circuit embraces nine Western states and U.S. possessions in the Pacific. It is by far the largest appellate circuit in the country and, at some point, probably should be divided. We have supported a proposal by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, to keep California, Nevada and Arizona in the 9th Circuit and create a new circuit for Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Guam and the Mariana Islands, now part of the 9th.
However, Simpson proposed this week that the 9th Circuit be comprised of California, Hawaii and the Pacific islands, while the seven other states would be divided into two new circuits. Hawaii would be swallowed up by such a composition. The Simpson amendment passed the House by a party-line vote of 205-194. The larger bill was approved by voice vote but, laden with the 9th Circuit provision, is given no chance of passing the Senate.
The Senate-passed bill would create 58 new federal judgeships and make several temporary judgeships permanent. Those include a now temporary slot created for Hawaii four years ago when Judge Alan Kay took senior status. President Bush first nominated Fritz Rohlfing, who withdrew after more than two years waiting for Senate confirmation, and last month named highly qualified Michael Seabright, now an assistant U.S. attorney, to fill the opening.
According to Chief Judge David Ezra, the vacancy to be filled by Seabright will not exist after this month unless the judgeship becomes permanent. While Seabright's nomination came too late to be confirmed in the current session of Congress, the opening will not exist during the next session unless the judgeship is made permanent.
"Even with the many extra hours put in by each active judge and the assistance of senior judges," Ezra wrote in a letter to the Star-Bulletin more than a year ago, "the lack of a fourth active judge in our district has caused unacceptable delays in the handling of both civil and criminal matters."
The Simpson proposal stems from complaints by Western Republicans about the 9th Circuit's liberal opinions, the most outrageous being a three-judge panel's rejection of the "under God" clause of the Pledge of Allegiance. Simpson's amendment, accurately described by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., as "campaign-season cannon fodder," should not be allowed to undermine efforts to relieve overburdened federal courts.
