The Ninth Circus

We've heard this before, but the Los Angeles Times is noting it again – the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is far enough to the Left that it is overturned a lot by the Supreme Court of the United States. Carol J. Williams reports.

It was another bruising year for the liberal judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as the Supreme Court overturned the majority of their decisions, at times sharply criticizing their legal reasoning.

Appeals from the nine Western states of the circuit dominated the high court's docket, as usual, supplying more than 30% of the 84 cases taken up by the justices during the term that ended last month.

In other words, the rest of the country should be a little ticked off at how the 9th Circuit is taking up resources.

Although the proportion of reversals was relatively in line with past years and other appellate circuits across the country, the 9th Circuit was often out of step even with the high court's liberal justices, who joined with the conservatives in 12 unanimous rulings.

Here's an astounding quote:

"Reversal rates have no meaning whatsoever," said [liberal UC Irvine law school dean Erwin] Chemerinsky. "If the Supreme Court overrules the 9th Circuit, it doesn't mean that the 9th Circuit was wrong and the Supreme Court was right. It means the Supreme Court had the last word."

And yet the Left appeals over and over again to SCOTUS decisions as if they are Scripture. SCOTUS found a right to abortion, they reason, so that means there is a right. As for me, I recognize that SCOTUS is the top court in the union, can be right or wrong, and that it should be bound by the Constitution.

Coupled with other Supreme Court rulings this term that halted class-action lawsuits against Wal-Mart and AT&T, the Pinholster ruling showed that the justices are "systematically closing the courthouse door" to capital prisoners and those attempting to sue Big Business, Chemerinsky said.

If there is convincing evidence that someone murdered someone else, the court isn't going to let them off of the hook for some iffy technicality that has nothing to do with the evidence. In regards to business, as long as fraud or some sort of deception isn't being used, a customer chooses to use a business, an employee chooses to work for a business, and investor chooses to invest in a business, and any of them can sever their relationship with the business whenever they want to. Thus, many disputes do not require court interference.

The Supreme Court typically reverses about 75% of the cases it reviews each year, having selected them because they raise important questions of law or to resolve the internal contradictions created when circuits come to different conclusions about the same legal question. The 9th Circuit's track record tends to be above average most years: two years ago, 94% of the circuit's cases were reversed.

The article never touches on the elephant in the room. Or, perhaps, the 800-pound gorilla – that experts expect the 9th Circuit to side with Walker's decision to neuter marriage by overturning the amendment to the California constitution, and then SCOTUS will get it. Experts also say the SCOTUS decision could be 5-4 either way under the current makeup of the court, which provides incentive for the lower courts to toss the ball back and forth (like they are doing now) in the hopes that a conservative member of SCOTUS will retire and be replaced by a more Left-leaning pick by President Obama.