In 1999, former Chief Judge William D. Browning of the District of Arizona, who served as one of five members of the White Commission, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had repeatedly asked opponents of a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split: When will the 9th Circuit be too big? He said that no answer was ever forthcoming. (The White Commission, whose formal title was the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, was originally led by former Justice Byron R. White.)
Although the 9th Circuit is only one of 12 geographical federal circuit courts, whether viewed from the vantage point of population, caseload or number of authorized judgeships, the 9th Circuit has no equal. 58 million people live within the 9th Circuit. This is one-fifth of the population of the United States. It is also 27 million more people than reside in the next largest circuit. The 9th Circuit consists of nine states (including the most populous state), a territory and a commonwealth. The other circuits average fewer than four states. No other circuit, of course, decides the law for nine states.
