Judicial Reorganization Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The Judicial Reorganization Act of 2025 splits the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals into two circuits. The new Ninth Circuit covers California, Guam, and Hawaii with 18 judges sitting in Honolulu, San Francisco, and Pasadena. The new Twelfth Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington with 13 judges sitting in Phoenix, Seattle, and Portland. The President would appoint 2 additional circuit judges for the former Ninth Circuit (one for each new circuit). Active judges are assigned based on their duty station location, while senior judges can elect which circuit to join. Pending cases that have been submitted for decision continue under the old circuit, while unsubmitted cases transfer to the appropriate new circuit. The old Ninth Circuit has 2 years to wind down administrative functions. The act takes effect 1 year after enactment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Split the Ninth Judicial Circuit into a new Ninth Circuit (California, Guam, Hawaii) and a new Twelfth Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington), add new judgeships, and establish transition rules for pending cases and judge assignments.
Who Benefits
- Litigants in Pacific Northwest/Mountain West states (smaller docket, faster resolution)
- Conservative legal interests (diluting the liberal Ninth Circuit)
- The President (2 new judicial appointments)
Who Bears Costs
- California litigants (loss of favorable circuit precedent from split states)
- Federal courts (transition costs and administrative burden)
- Federal budget (new court facilities and judgeships)
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Judiciary', 'evidence': 'Amends 28 USC to increase from 13 to 14 judicial circuits by splitting the Ninth Circuit'}, {'domain': 'Government Operations', 'evidence': 'Establishes detailed transition rules for case transfers, judge assignments, senior judge elections, and administrative wind-down'}
Primary Purpose
Split the Ninth Judicial Circuit into a new Ninth Circuit (California, Guam, Hawaii) and a new Twelfth Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington), add new judgeships, and establish transition rules for pending cases and judge assignments.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Break up the largest and most liberal-leaning federal appeals court by separating the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West states into a new circuit, allowing the President to appoint new judges to both circuits"
Sponsors
Mike Crapo
R-ID | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Crapo (for himself and Mr. Risch) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal court administrators, Federal courts system, Federal judiciary
Positive-direction: Federal judiciary, Federal judiciary (new court facilities), Senior circuit judges
Negative-direction: Federal court administrators, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (administrative)
Federal budget, The President (judicial appointment power)
Positive-direction: The President (judicial appointment power)
Negative-direction: Federal budget
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The ninth judicial circuit as it exists before the effective date of this Act
The ninth judicial circuit established by the amendment (CA, GU, HI)
The new twelfth judicial circuit (AK, AZ, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology