The right wing has never liked the liberal-leanings of the Ninth Circuit, so it should come at no surprise that a number of Republican Senators are now pushing to split up the court to dilute its power. Jonathan D. Glater has the story for The New York Times:

Congressional Republicans are hoping yet again to split the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers nine Western states and has issued some rulings to the dismay of conservatives, saying a breakup is the best way to reduce the caseload of the circuit's federal judges.

Next week, Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, plans to introduce a bill to split the circuit into three parts. Representative Mike Simpson, Republican of Idaho, has already introduced legislation that would create two new appellate courts for the area.

And because the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has linked the addition of any new judgeships across the country to dividing the circuit, lawmakers may have reason to view the prospect with an open mind.

[...]

The three-way split proposed last year and reintroduced this year in the House would lump together California, Hawaii, Guam and the Mariana Islands; Alaska, Oregon and Washington; and Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Montana.

A split would not directly affect the jurisprudence of the Ninth Circuit, of course. But it might speed the day that Republican appointees become the majority in the new, smaller circuits. Also, any circuit (or circuits) created that excluded California would probably be more conservative, Professor Hellman observed.

For the Democrats to be able to block this measure -- and it's not clear yet that they will be willing to expend political capital on it -- they must tie it to their larger claim that Republicans are attacking the independent judiciary with the Terri Schiavo case, threats to impeach judges, etc. It will take a lot of work by both sides, but this could turn into one of the major battles of this Congress.