Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judgeship and Reorganization Act of 2023

H.R. 270 proposes to reorganize the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by splitting it into two separate judicial circuits. Under this plan, the existing Ninth Circuit would be reduced to include only California, Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands, while a newly created Twelfth Circuit would handle federal appeals for Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. For citizens in these states, this change would shift where their federal legal appeals are heard and potentially alter the speed and administrative handling of cases within the federal court system.