The issue: 9th U.S. Circuit Court rulings

Who said it: Jan Brewer, Arizona governor

by Alex Ferri - May 1, 2012, 5:32 pm

What we're looking at
Gov. Jan Brewer told a Republic reporter that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has its rulings overturned by the Supreme Court more than any other circuit court in the country. 

The comment
"The 9th Circuit is the most overturned circuit court in the country." 

The forum
An April 19 interview with an Arizona Republic reporter. 

Analysis
Brewer made the claim about the court because it ruled that several sections of Senate Bill 1070 were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court heard the case in April and is expected to issue a ruling in the summer.The Supreme Court could overturn all or parts of the 9th Circuit Court's decision.

SCOTUSblog, a website sponsored by Bloomberg Law, tracks Supreme Court decisions on cases from each circuit court.

For the current, yearlong term beginning in October 2011, the court has reversed 14 rulings from the 9th Circuit Court. The court with the second-most reversals has had five cases overturned.

Additionally, the Supreme Court has a history of reversing decisions of the 9th Circuit Court. Between 1999 and 2008, the court overturned 107 of the circuit court's rulings, according to data from the American Bar Association.

The second-highest number of reversals from that period, 45, belonged to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court.

While the court has a history of being the most overturned,University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman said that is to be expected.

The 9th Circuit Court is the largest circuit court in the country, with a jurisdiction of about 20 percent of the nation's population, Hellman said. Its jurisdiction includes Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii.

There are 13 judicial circuits in the United States, each with a court of appeals.

As the largest circuit court, it may be expected that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would be overturned the most because the Supreme Court takes on more of its cases than those of any other circuit court.

The rate of reversal for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court also is high. However, it is not the highest among the courts from which the Supreme Court takes cases. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court had a reversal rate of 80 percent between 1999 and 2008, while the Federal Circuit Court had an 83 percent reversal rate, according to data from the American Bar Association.

However, the Federal Circuit had only 18 cases reversed during that period, meaning the number of reversals of the 9th Circuit Court was much higher.

Bottom line: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has had more of its rulings reversed by the Supreme Court than any other circuit court, so Brewer's statement is true. However, this is somewhat expected as it is the largest circuit court in the country, and the Supreme Court hears more of its cases than those of any other circuit court.



Sources
Interview with Gov. Jan Brewer
Interview with Arthur Hellman, University of Pittsburgh.
E-mail interview with Matthew Benson, spokesman for Brewer
"Supreme Court Reversal Rates: Evaluating the Federal Courts of Appeals," American Bar Association, January 2010
"Circuit Report for October Term 2011," SCOTUSblog