Ninth Circuit - Santa Clara Bar Association's Letter of Oppositon ()
Letter of Oppositon from the Santa Clara Bar Association against the Ninth Circuit Split

Federalism and Separation of Powers: A Court United
A statement of a number of ninth circuit judges opposed to the ninth circuit split.

Creating New Judgeships
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” Legislation is pending in the Senate and House to help reduce backlogs in the nation’s district and circuit courts by authorizing additional judgeships. The Federal Judgeship Act of 2009 (S. 1653 and H.R. 3662) would create new federal judgeships based upon non-partisan recommendations by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal courts’ policy making body.

SUPREME COURT: Stevens to decide on retirement next month  (Greenwire, 03/16/10)
While environmental groups would lose one of their most reliable supporters, said Glenn Sugameli, a staff attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, they will also lose a justice with "intangibles" -- including a relatively strong rapport with key swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy joined the majority in Massachusetts v. EPA, which provided the legal basis for EPA's emerging effort to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. "Any change on the Supreme Court could help decide the fate of environmental laws for decades to come. The court is very closely split, 5-4, on a number of major environmental issues," Sugameli said. "A new nominee will obviously be much younger and will likely be around to decide issues that nobody's really even thought of yet."

Unprecedented and Inexcusable Obstructionism (Huffington Post, 03/17/10)
Nan Aron: "In 2009, the Senate confirmed only 12 of President Obama's circuit and district court nominations - the lowest number of judicial confirmations in the last fifty years. It didn't used to be this way: more than 87% of President Bush's nominees received final action in the Senate during his first year in office. But Senate Republicans have abandoned the long tradition of confirming the President's nominations in a timely manner. "

Environmentalists Signal Support for Sotomayor (07/09/09)
Millions of members represented by 60 groups favoring High Court nominee