Mary Murguia, one of the newest judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, recently took on two of her longest serving colleagues in a dispute over attorney fees in prisoner litigation. Murguia has another appeals court, the Sixth Circuit, on her side. The U.S. Supreme Court could be asked to resolve the split.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt, joined by Judge John Noonan, wrote the majority opinion in Woods v. Cervantes. Both have served on the Ninth Circuit since the 1980s. Reinhardt is still active; Noonan has taken senior status. Murguia joined the Ninth Circuit in 2011, although not as a rookie. From 2000 until her elevation, she served as a federal district judge in Arizona.
