Craig, Crapo Co-sponsor Bill to Split the 9th Circuit Court

WASHINGTON, DC â?? Idaho Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo have cosponsored a bill in the Senate to split the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and create a new 12th Circuit Court of Appeals that would include the state of Idaho. The â??Ninth Circuit Reorganization Act of 2003" is similar to legislation Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson introduced in the House of Representatives last month. â??The West has experienced huge population growth over the last few decades and that growth has translated into an overburdening caseload for the 9th Circuit Court that hinders timely justice for Idahoans and our Western neighbors,â?? Senator Craig said. â??The time has come create a new 12th Circuit Court, one that is not only more reflective of the values we in the West hold dear, but one that can more efficiently and effectively deal with the caseload of our expanding population.â??Senator Crapo says the new legislation to split the Ninth Circuit Court and create a new circuit may succeed where other efforts failed for two reasons. He says observers now recognize the Ninth Circuit is too big to dispense justice in a reasonable manner, and the recent ruling against the use of the Pledge of Allegiance showed the court to be out of step with the proper interpretation of the Constitution.â??To deny God, no matter how He is perceived, is to deny the very fiber of our national character. In its ruling regarding reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals failed to make the distinction between church and state, and God and state. The ruling is shortsighted and does not properly interpret the Constitution. It is for this, and other reasons that have been discussed by legal experts for many years now, that the time has clearly come to split the Ninth circuit,â?? said Senator Crapo. The Act would divide the Ninth Circuit into two independent circuits. The restructured Ninth Circuit under this bill, would contain California and Nevada. A new Twelfth Circuit would be composed of Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands.[30]