To Split or Not to Split

Engage, a journal from the Federalist Society, has a point-counterpoint about the merits of splitting the Ninth Circuit:

• Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, Ten Reasons Why the Ninth Circuit Should Be Split, Engage, Oct. 2005, at 58-64 (the whole issue is here in pdf).
  • A speech in which Judge O'Scannlain argued for the split (March 16, 2006) is on the Harvard Federalist Society's website.
• A Court United: A Statement of a Number of Ninth Circuit Judges, Engage, March 2006, at 63-66 (the whole issue is here in pdf; the article itself is on Alex Kozinski's website).
  • The judges signing on were: Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder and Judges James R. Browning, Alfred T. Goodwin, J. Clifford Wallace, Procter Hug, Jr., Otto R. Skopil, Betty B. Fletcher, Jerome Farris, Harry Pregerson, Warren J. Ferguson, Dorothy W. Nelson, William C. Canby, Jr., Robert Boochever, Stephen Reinhardt, Melvin Brunetti, Alex Kozinski, John T. Noonan, Jr., David R. Thompson, Michael D. Hawkins, A. Wallace Tashima, Sidney R. Thomas, Barry G. Silverman, Susan P. Graber, M. Margaret McKeown, Kim M. Wardlaw, William A. Fletcher, Raymond C. Fisher, Richard A. Paez, Marsha S. Berzon, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Richard R. Clifton, Consuelo M. Callahan & Carlos T. Bea, all of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Judge O'Scannlain will respond in the next issue of Engage. (It was scheduled to be published "in early fall" but it is not yet posted.)

Wikipedia has a good entry about the Ninth Circuit, including the composition of the court, controversy about its rulings, and the history and current state of splitting proposals.