Supreme Court Docket Has a 9th Circuit ‘Flavor’
A third of the Supreme Court’s current docket is made up of appeals from the oft-reversed 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco.
The docket has a “substantial 9th Circuit and California flavor,” the Daily Journal reports, in a story reprinted by How Appealing.
University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman told the Daily Journal that the 9th Circuit is “overrepresented on the docket.” One reason, he said, is because losing lawyers in the circuit are aggressive in seeking cert, knowing that the Supreme Court is often skeptical of the court’s rulings.
Last year, the 9th Circuit was reversed or vacated 12 times and affirmed four times, the story says.
The article says this year’s 9th Circuit cases include:
• Schwarzenegger v. Video Software Dealers Association. At issue is the constitutionality of a California law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors.
• Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting. At issue is whether an Arizona law requiring immigration checks of workers is pre-empted by federal law.
• Harrington v. Richter. At issue is whether federal courts should give deference to a state appeals court’s final judgment if it denies habeas review in a summary decision.
