New Circuit Justice Assignments
The Court issued an order today reallocating circuit assignments among the Justices. Perhaps notably (perhaps not), Justice O’Connor’s responsibility as the Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit was not reassigned.
Circuit Justices are responsible for ruling on certain motions arising from their assigned circuits, such as motions for extensions of time. In the case motions for a stay of execution or other motions relating to death penalty matters, the Circuit Justice ordinarily refers the motion to the Court as a whole, but takes the lead in recommending a disposition of the motion.
The order is effective immediately.
Thanks to reader Matthew J. Price for alerting us to the order.
UPDATE: For those who are curious, the only changes are shifting the Chief Justice’s circuits to the 3 most junior Justices — Breyer gets the Federal Circuit, Ginsburg gets the D.C. Circuit, and Thomas gets the Fourth Circuit.
New Circuit Justice Assignments:
SCOTUSBlog points out that with the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court today has announced temporary new Circuit Justice assignments that have …
Comment by The Volokh Conspiracy — September 7, 2005 @ 2:21 pm
Justice Scalia is still stuck with the Fifth Circuit, with its heavy load of capital cases.
Comment by Kent Scheidegger — September 7, 2005 @ 2:23 pm
It will be interesting to see how assignments change when new justices are confirmed. I would not be surprised to see Justice Kennedy take over the Ninth Circuit (where he used to sit) when Justice O’Connor steps down, and Justice Thomas switch to the Eleventh Circuit (where he was born).
Comment by Randy Beck — September 7, 2005 @ 3:36 pm