Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,607
- 910
The Ninth Circuit, based in the western U.S. and including California, has a reputation for perennially having the worst record at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court’s critics—who’ve dubbed it the “Ninth Circus"—point to its reversal record as evidence of the court’s overreaching and its liberal bent. But a Bloomberg Law analysis of court data shows that the appeals court has a better record than several of its sister circuits.
When one considers the total number of cases the Ninth Circuit hears, and focuses on the percentage of those cases that are reversed by the Supreme Court—seven circuits actually have the same or worse records.
...The Ninth Circuit is by far the largest of the 13 federal circuits, hearing about one in every five federal appeals.
It’s no coincidence that the two most overturned circuits—the Fifth and the Ninth—are also the busiest.
Still, the Ninth Circuit’s 108 reversals seem striking when compared to the Fifth Circuit’s 41.
But the Ninth Circuit also heard about 29,000 more cases than the Fifth Circuit did during that same period, according to statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The Fifth Circuit heard approximately 46,000 appeals. The Ninth Circuit heard around 75,000.
Moreover, the Supreme Court more often than not takes a case to reverse it, Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, told Bloomberg Law. “During the past five terms, the Supreme Court reversed 72.4 percent of all cases it decided,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a 2017statement.
Heavy Caseload to Blame for Ninth Circuit’s Bad Rap
There you have it.
The court’s critics—who’ve dubbed it the “Ninth Circus"—point to its reversal record as evidence of the court’s overreaching and its liberal bent. But a Bloomberg Law analysis of court data shows that the appeals court has a better record than several of its sister circuits.
When one considers the total number of cases the Ninth Circuit hears, and focuses on the percentage of those cases that are reversed by the Supreme Court—seven circuits actually have the same or worse records.
...The Ninth Circuit is by far the largest of the 13 federal circuits, hearing about one in every five federal appeals.
It’s no coincidence that the two most overturned circuits—the Fifth and the Ninth—are also the busiest.
Still, the Ninth Circuit’s 108 reversals seem striking when compared to the Fifth Circuit’s 41.
But the Ninth Circuit also heard about 29,000 more cases than the Fifth Circuit did during that same period, according to statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The Fifth Circuit heard approximately 46,000 appeals. The Ninth Circuit heard around 75,000.
Moreover, the Supreme Court more often than not takes a case to reverse it, Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, told Bloomberg Law. “During the past five terms, the Supreme Court reversed 72.4 percent of all cases it decided,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a 2017statement.
Heavy Caseload to Blame for Ninth Circuit’s Bad Rap
There you have it.
