United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D. C; the composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators; each state, regardless of its population size, is represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years. There being at present 50 states in the Union, there are presently 100 senators. From 1789 until 1913, senators were appointed by legislatures of the states; as the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it. These include the approval of treaties, the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, federal judges, flag officers, regulatory officials, other federal executive officials and other federal uniformed officers.
In addition to these, in cases wherein no candidate receives a majority of electors for Vice President, the duty falls to the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office. Furthermore, the Senate has the responsibility of conducting the trials of those impeached by the House; the Senate is considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms, smaller size, statewide constituencies, which led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere. The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States, President of the Senate. In the Vice President's absence, the President Pro Tempore, customarily the senior member of the party holding a majority of seats, presides over the Senate. In the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers; the drafters of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress as a compromise between those who felt that each state, since it was sovereign, should be represented, those who felt the legislature must directly represent the people, as the House of Commons did in Great Britain.
This idea of having one chamber represent people while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise. There was a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a "People's House" directly elected by the people, with short terms obliging the representatives to remain close to their constituents; the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally; the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate; the name is derived from Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the following comment about the Senate: In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure.
An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, to balance and check the other, they ought to be so constituted. The Senate, ought to be this body. Article Five of the Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that state's consent; the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation allowed to vote in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two "shadow U. S. Senators", but they are officials of the D. C. City Government and not members of the U. S. Senate; the United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. The disparity between the most and least populous states has grown since the Connecticut Compromise, which granted each state two members of the Senate and at least one member of the House of Representatives, for a total minimum of three presidential electors, regardless of population.
In 1787, Virginia had ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has 70 times the population of Wyoming, based on the 1790 and 2000 censuses. This means some citizens are two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are proportionate to the population of each state, reducing the disparity of representation. Before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the individual state legislatures. Problems with repeated vacant seats due to the inability of a legislature to elect senators, intrastate political struggles, bribery and intimidation had led to a growing movement to amend the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators; the party composition of the Senate during the 116th Congress: Art
Washington House of Representatives
The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the US state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 districts, each of which elects one Senator and two members of the House. All members of the House are elected to a two-year term without term limits; the House meets at the Legislative Building in Olympia. The Speaker of the House presides over the House of Representatives; the Speaker and the Speaker Pro Tem are nominated by the majority party caucus followed by a vote of the full House. As well as presiding over the body, the Speaker is the chief leadership position, controls the flow of legislation. In the absence of the Speaker the Speaker Pro Tem assumes the role of Speaker. Other House leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses relative to their party's strength in the House; the current Speaker of the House is Democrat Frank Chopp of the 43rd Legislative District.
The Speaker Pro Tempore is John Lovick of the 44th Legislative District. The Majority Leader is Pat Sullivan of the 47th Legislative District; the Republican Minority Leader is J. T. Wilcox of the 2nd Legislative District. *Originally appointed #Sworn in early to fill vacant seat †Had previous tenure in Washington House of Representatives ^Redistricted during current tenure ‡Originally elected in special election The first women elected were Frances Cleveland Axtell and Nena Jolidon Croake in 1912. Washington State Capitol Washington State Legislature Washington State Senate List of Washington state legislatures Media related to Members of the Washington House of Representatives at Wikimedia Commons Washington House of Representatives Map of Legislative Districts
Pierce County, Washington
Pierce County is a county in the U. S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 795,225, making it the second-most populous county in Washington behind King County; the county seat and largest city is Tacoma. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory, it was named for U. S. President Franklin Pierce. Pierce County is in the Seattle metropolitan area. Pierce County is notable for being home to Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain and a volcano in the Cascade Range, its most recent recorded eruption was between 1820 and 1854. There is no imminent risk of eruption. If this should happen, parts of Pierce County and the Puyallup Valley would be at risk from lahars, lava, or pyroclastic flows; the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System was established in 1998 to assist in the evacuation of the Puyallup River valley in case of eruption. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,806 square miles, of which 1,670 square miles is land and 137 square miles is water.
The highest natural point in Washington, Mount Rainier at 14,410 feet, is located in Pierce County. Pierce County contains the Clearwater Wilderness area. King County — north Yakima County — east Lewis County — south Thurston County — west/southwest Mason County — west/northwest Kitsap County — north/northwest Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Mount Rainier National Park Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge As of the census of 2000, there were 700,820 people, 260,800 households, 180,212 families residing in the county; the population density was 417 people per square mile. There were 277,060 housing units at an average density of 165 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 78.39% White, 6.95% Black or African American, 1.42% Native American, 5.08% Asian, 0.85% Pacific Islander, 2.20% from other races, 5.11% from two or more races. 5.51% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.1% were of German, 8.6% Irish, 8.2% English, 6.3% American, 6.2% Norwegian ancestry.
There were 260,800 households out of which 35.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% were married couples living together, 11.80% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.90% were non-families. 24.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.60% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.10. In the county, the population was spread out with 27.20% under the age of 18, 9.80% from 18 to 24, 31.30% from 25 to 44, 21.50% from 45 to 64, 10.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $45,204, the median income for a family was $52,098. Males had a median income of $38,510 versus $28,580 for females; the per capita income for the county was $20,948. About 7.50% of families and 10.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.20% of those under age 18 and 7.20% of those age 65 or over.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 795,225 people, 299,918 households, 202,174 families residing in the county. The population density was 476.3 inhabitants per square mile. There were 325,375 housing units at an average density of 194.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 74.2% white, 6.8% black or African American, 6.0% Asian, 1.4% American Indian, 1.3% Pacific islander, 3.5% from other races, 6.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 9.2% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 20.5% were German, 13.1% were Irish, 10.7% were English, 6.3% were Norwegian, 4.2% were American. Of the 299,918 households, 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.6% were non-families, 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age was 35.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $57,869 and the median income for a family was $68,462. Males had a median income of $50,084 versus $38,696 for females; the per capita income for the county was $27,446. About 8.1% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.0% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over. Pierce County is governed by a Charter; this is allowed by section 4 of Article XI of the Washington constitution. The Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier, heads the county's executive branch; the Assessor-Treasurer Mike Lonergan, auditor Julie Anderson, Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist, Sheriff Paul A. Pastor are countywide elected executive positions; the Pierce County Council is the elected legislative body for Pierce County and consists of seven members elected by district. The council is vested with all law-making power granted by its charter and by the State of Washington, sets county policy through the adoption of ordinances and resolutions, approves the annual budget and directs the use of county funds.
The seven members of the County Council are elected from each of seven contiguous and populated districts, with each councilmember representing 114,000 county residents. Each county councilmember is elected to serve a four-year term. Dave Morell, District 1 Pam Roach, District 2 Jim McCune, District 3 Connie Lade
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U. S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located 40 miles east of Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge; the primary functions of Bonneville Lock and Dam are electrical power generation and river navigation. The dam is managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of its construction in the 1930s it was the largest water impoundment project of its type in the nation, able to withstand flooding on an unprecedented scale. Electrical power generated at Bonneville is distributed by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Lock and Dam is named for Army Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer credited with charting much of the Oregon Trail; the Bonneville Dam Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1987. In 1896, prior to this damming of the river, the Cascade Locks and Canal were constructed, allowing ships to pass the Cascades Rapids, located several miles upstream of Bonneville.
Prior to the New Deal, development of the Columbia River with flood control, hydroelectricity and irrigation was deemed as important. In 1929, the US Army Corps of Engineers published the 308 Report that recommended 10 dams on the river but no action was taken until the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and the New Deal. During this period America was in the Great Depression, the dam's construction provided jobs and other economic benefits to the Pacific Northwest. Inexpensive hydroelectricity gave rise to a strong aluminum industry in the area. With funding from the Public Works Administration in 1934, two of the larger projects were started, the Grand Coulee Dam and the Bonneville Dam. 3,000 workers in non-stop eight-hour shifts, from the relief or welfare rolls, were paid 50-cents an hour for the work on the dam and raising local roads for the reservoir. To create the Bonneville Dam and Lock, The Army Corps of Engineers first built one of the largest scale models in history of the proposed dam, the section of river it was to be located on, its various components to aid in the study of the construction.
First a new lock and a powerhouse was constructed which were on the south side of Bradford Island, a spillway on the north side. Cofferdams were built to block half of the river and clear a construction site where the foundation could be reached; these projects, part of the Bonneville Dam were completed in 1937. Both the cascades and the old lock structure were submerged by the Bonneville Reservoir known as Lake Bonneville, the reservoir that formed behind the dam; the original navigation lock at Bonneville opened in 1938 and was, at that time, the highest single-lift lock in the world. Although the dam began to produce hydroelectricity in 1937, commercial electricity began its transfer from the dam in 1938. A second powerhouse was started in 1974 and completed in 1981; the second powerhouse was built by widening the river channel on the Washington side, creating Cascades Island between the new powerhouse and the original spillway. The combined rated capacity electrical output of the two power houses at Bonneville is now 1.2 gigawatts.
Despite its world record size in 1938, Bonneville Lock became the smallest of eight locks including seven built subsequently at different locations upstream on the Columbia and Snake rivers. This new structure was built on the Oregon shore, opening to ship and barge traffic in 1993; the old lock is no longer used. Owner: U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District Location: On Columbia River about 40 miles upstream from Portland, Oregon First Powerhouse – Constructed in 1933–37. Spillway – Constructed 1933–37. Bonneville Lock – Constructed from 1987 to 1993 at a cost of $341 million. 30 minutes. Replaced earlier smaller lock built 1938. Lake Bonneville – 77 km long reservoir on the Columbia River created by Bonneville Dam, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Both powerhouses - output capacity: 1.2 GW The Bonneville Dam blocked the migration of white sturgeon to their upstream spawning areas. Sturgeon still spawn in the area below the dam and the lower Columbia River supports a healthy sturgeon population.
Small depressed populations of white sturgeon persist in the various reservoirs upstream. To cope with fish migration problems, the dam features fish ladders to help native salmon and steelhead get past the dam on their journey upstream to spawn; the large concentrations of fish swimming upstream serve as a tourist attraction during the spawning season. California sea lions are attracted to the large number of fish, are seen around the base of the dam during the spawning season. By 2006, the growing number of crafty sea lions and their impact on the salmon population had become worrisome to the Army Corps of Engineers and environmentalists. Pinnipeds such as sea lions and seals have hunted salmon in the Columbia River as far as The Dalles and Celilo Falls, 60 miles farther upstream from Bonneville, as remarke
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they compose the legislature of the United States; the composition of the House is established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of Representatives who sit in congressional districts that are allocated to each of the 50 states on a basis of population as measured by the U. S. Census, with each district entitled to one representative. Since its inception in 1789, all Representatives have been directly elected; the total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. As of the 2010 Census, the largest delegation is that of California, with fifty-three representatives. Seven states have only one representative: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming; the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration.
In addition to this basic power, the House has certain exclusive powers, among them the power to initiate all bills related to revenue. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol; the presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, elected by the members thereof. The Speaker and other floor leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conference, depending on whichever party has more voting members. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body in which each state was represented, in which each state had a veto over most action. After eight years of a more limited confederal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton initiated the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which received the Confederation Congress's sanction to "amend the Articles of Confederation". All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates; the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention.
Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house would be "of the people", elected directly by the people of the United States and representing public opinion, a more deliberative upper house, elected by the lower house, that would represent the individual states, would be less susceptible to variations of mass sentiment. The House is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being the upper house, although the United States Constitution does not use that terminology. Both houses' approval is necessary for the passage of legislation; the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states; the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress would provide representation proportional to each state's population, whereas the other would provide equal representation amongst the states.
The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time. During the first half of the 19th century, the House was in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery; the North was much more populous than the South, therefore dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One example of a provision supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, which began soon after several southern states attempted to secede from the Union; the war culminated in the abolition of slavery. All southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, therefore the Senate did not hold the balance of power between North and South during the war.
The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877; the Democratic Party and Republican Party each held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a dramatic increase in the power of the Speaker of the House; the rise of the Speaker's influence began in the 1890s, during the tenure of Republican Thomas Brackett Reed. "Czar Reed", as he was nicknamed, attempted to put into effect his view that "The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch." The leadership structure of the House developed during the same period, with the positions of Majority Leader and Minority Leader being created in 1899. While the Minority Leader
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic socialist and social democratic political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America which had split from the main organization in 1899. In the first decades of the 20th century, it drew significant support from many different groups, including trade unionists, progressive social reformers, populist farmers and immigrants. However, it refused to form coalitions with other parties, or to allow its members to vote for other parties. Eugene V. Debs twice won over 900,000 votes in presidential elections while the party elected two Representatives, dozens of state legislators, more than a hundred mayors and countless lesser officials; the party's staunch opposition to American involvement in World War I, although welcomed by many led to prominent defections, official repression and vigilante persecution.
The organization was further shattered by a factional war over how to respond to the October Revolution in Imperial Russia in 1917 and the establishment of the Communist International in 1919—many members left the party in favor of the Communist Party USA. After endorsing Robert M. La Follette's presidential campaign in 1924, the party returned to independent action at the presidential level, it had modest growth in the early 1930s behind presidential candidate Norman Thomas. The party's appeal was weakened by the popularity of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the organization and flexibility of the Communist Party under Earl Browder and the resurgent labor movement's desire to support sympathetic Democratic Party politicians. A divisive and unsuccessful attempt to broaden the party by admitting followers of Leon Trotsky and Jay Lovestone caused the traditional Old Guard to leave and form the Social Democratic Federation. While the party was always anti-fascist as well as anti-Stalinist, its opposition to American entry in World War II cost it both internal and external support.
The party stopped running presidential candidates after 1956, when its nominee Darlington Hoopes won fewer than 6,000 votes. In the party's last decades, its members, many of them prominent in the labor, civil rights and civil liberties movements, fundamentally disagreed about the socialist movement's relationship to the labor movement and the Democratic Party and about how best to advance democracy abroad. In 1970–1973, these strategic differences had become so acute that the Socialist Party of America changed its name to Social Democrats, USA. Leaders of two of its caucuses formed separate socialist organizations, namely the Socialist Party USA and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the latter of which became a precursor to the largest present-day socialist organization in the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America. From 1901 to the onset of World War I, the Socialist Party had numerous elected officials throughout the United States. There were two Socialist members of Congress, Meyer London of New York City and Victor Berger of Milwaukee.
Its voting strength was greatest among recent Jewish and German immigrants, coal miners and former populist farmers in the Midwest. From 1900 to 1912, it ran Eugene V. Debs for President at each election; the best showing for a socialist ticket was in 1912, when Debs gained 901,551 total votes, or 6% of the popular vote. In 1920, Debs ran again, this time while imprisoned for opposing World War I and received 913,693 votes, 3.4% of the total. Early political perspectives ranged from radical socialism to social democracy, with New York party leader Morris Hillquit and Congressman Berger on the more social democratic or right-wing of the party and radical socialists and syndicalists, including members of the Industrial Workers of the World and the party's frequent candidate, Eugene V. Debs, on the left-wing of the party. There were agrarian utopian-leaning radicals, such as Julius Wayland of Kansas, who edited the party's leading national newspaper, Appeal to Reason, along with trade unionists.
The party outsourced its newspapers and publications so that it would not have an internal editorial board, a power in its own right. The result was that a handful of outside publishers dominated the published messages the party distributed and agitated for a much more radical anti-capitalistic revolutionary message the party itself tolerated; the Appeal to Reason newspaper thus became part of its radical left-wing as did the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company of Chicago, which produced over half of the pamphlets and books that were sold at party meetings. Positions in the party on racial segregation varied and were the subject of heated debate from its foundation to the 1919 split. At its founding convention, a resolution was presented in favor of "equal rights for all human beings without distinction of color, race or sex" highlighting African Americans as oppressed and exploited and calling for them to be organised by the socialist and labor movements; this was opposed by a number of white delegates, who argued that specific appeals to black workers were unnecessary.
Whilst two of the black delegates present agreed with this position, the third, William Costley, held that blacks were in "a d
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U. S. Federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: District of Alaska District of Arizona Central District of California Eastern District of California Northern District of California Southern District of California District of Hawaii District of Idaho District of Montana District of Nevada District of Oregon Eastern District of Washington Western District of WashingtonIt has appellate jurisdiction over the following territorial courts: District of Guam District of the Northern Mariana IslandsHeadquartered in San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit is by far the largest of the thirteen courts of appeals, with 29 active judgeships; the court's regular meeting places are Seattle at the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse, Portland at the Pioneer Courthouse, San Francisco at the James R. Browning U. S. Court of Appeals Building, Pasadena at the Richard H. Chambers U. S. Court of Appeals.
Panels of the court travel to hear cases in other locations within the circuit. Although the judges travel around the circuit, the court arranges its hearings so that cases from the northern region of the circuit are heard in Seattle or Portland, cases from southern California are heard in Pasadena, cases from northern California, Nevada and Hawaii are heard in San Francisco. For lawyers who must come and present their cases to the court in person, this administrative grouping of cases helps to reduce the time and cost of travel; the large size of the current court is because both the population of the western states and the geographic jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit have increased since the U. S. Congress created the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1891; the court was granted appellate jurisdiction over federal district courts in California, Montana, Nevada and Washington. As new states and territories were added to the federal judicial hierarchy in the twentieth century, many of those in the West were placed in the Ninth Circuit: the newly acquired Territory of Hawaii in 1900, Arizona upon its admission to the Union in 1912, the Territory of Alaska in 1948, Guam in 1951, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1977.
The Ninth Circuit had jurisdiction over certain American interests in China, in that it had jurisdiction over appeals from the United States Court for China during the existence of that court from 1906 through 1943. However, the Philippines were never under the Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction. Congress never created a federal district court in the Philippines from which the Ninth Circuit could hear appeals. Instead, appeals from the Supreme Court of the Philippines were taken directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1979, the Ninth Circuit became the first federal judicial circuit to set up a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel as authorized by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978; the cultural and political jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit is just as varied as the land within its geographical borders. In a dissenting opinion in a rights of publicity case involving the Wheel of Fortune star Vanna White, Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski sardonically noted that "or better or worse, we are the Court of Appeals for the Hollywood Circuit."
Judges from more remote parts of the circuit note the contrast between legal issues confronted by populous states such as California and those confronted by rural states such as Alaska, Idaho and Nevada. Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld, who maintains his judicial chambers in Fairbanks, wrote in a letter in 1998: "Much federal law is not national in scope.... It is easy to make a mistake construing these laws when unfamiliar with them, as we are, or not interpreting them as we never do." Some argue. From 1999 to 2008, of the 0.151% of Ninth Circuit Court rulings that were reviewed by the Supreme Court, 20% were affirmed, 19% were vacated, 61% were reversed. From 2010 to 2015, of the cases it accepted to review, the Supreme Court reversed around 79 percent of the cases from the Ninth Circuit, ranking its reversal rate third among the circuits; some argue the court's high percentage of reversals is illusory, resulting from the circuit hearing more cases than the other circuits. This results in the Supreme Court reviewing a smaller proportion of its cases, letting stand the vast majority of its cases.
Some argue. Chief among these is the Ninth Circuit's unique rules concerning the composition of an en banc court. In other circuits, en banc courts are composed of all active circuit judges, plus any senior judges who took part in the original panel decision. By contrast, in the Ninth Circuit it is impractical for 29 or more judges to take part in a single oral argument and deliberate on a decision en masse; the court thus provides for a limited en banc review of a randomly selected 11 judge panel. This means that en banc reviews may not reflect the views of the majority of the court and indeed may not include any of the three judges involved in the decision being reviewed in the first place; the result, according to detractors, is a high risk of intracircuit conflicts of law where different groupings of judges end up delivering contradictory opinions. That is said to cause uncertainty within the bar. However, en banc review is a relatively
