Doug Ducey
wants better court rulings
PHOENIX β Gov. Doug Ducey finally admitted Friday that thereβs an ideological reason of sorts for his push to move Arizona out of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
He thinks the courtβs decisions β many of them against the state β are just wrong.
Earlier in the week, Ducey legal counsel Mike Liburdi released statistics showing the circuit, which covers nine Western states and two territories, has more cases than any other. The result, said Liburdi, is that it takes longer to get cases resolved.
On Friday, Ducey reiterated that reasoning.
βYou look at 12,000 cases on backlog compared to 2,000 cases in other districts,β the governor said.
βIf thereβs anything that government should be doing is running a judicial system,β he continued. βAnd weβd like to be in a circuit that runs a better one.β
Duceyβs proposal, being pushed in Congress by U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake and Rep. Matt Salmon, creates a new 12th Circuit Court of Appeals consisting of Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. That would leave California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington in the existing circuit with two territories.
The governor insisted the move has nothing to do with the repeated claims by some Republicans that the court has a liberal bent. βItβs not that theyβre liberal,β he said. βItβs that theyβre wrong.β
And as proof he cited figures showing the 9th Circuit decisions are overturned 77 percent of the time. βWeβd rather be in a district thatβs a bit more accurate,β he said.
Ducey conceded he has no guarantee that a new 12th Circuit will have its rulings overturned less. But heβs hoping for better.
βI think a proper judicial system would have a better than a 77 percent reversal rate by the Supreme Court,β he said.
But thereβs less to that figure than it seems, largely because the Supreme Court takes only between 75 and 80 cases a year. And, almost by definition, the cases the high court reviews are those where it questions what a lower court has done.
Consider this past yearβs session:
Out of 75 cases taken, the Supreme Court justices affirmed just 21. That means they reversed 72 percent of the lower-court rulings. The reversal rate for the 9th Circuit that year was 63 percent.
It is far more typical, though, for the 9th Circuit to be reversed at a higher rate than average.
For the term beginning October 2013, the high court reversed 73 percent of rulings. The 9th Circuit was reversed 92 percent of the time.
And the year before that, the 9th Circuit overturn rate was 86 percent versus the 72 percent average.
While Ducey may be unhappy with the rate that 9th Circuit cases are overturned, the complaints from Arizona actually may be the reverse. There is a long history of cases out of Arizona where the Supreme Court decided not to disturb the appellate courtβs rulings.
That includes the challenge to SB 1070, the 2010 Arizona law which sought to empower police to question and detain those in the country illegally.
The justices sided with the 9th Circuit in striking down several key provisions. But they did agree with the state that there was nothing inherently unconstitutional about telling police they should inquire about the legal status of someone they have stopped if there is reason to believe they are in this country illegally.
They also left untouched other 9th Circuit decisions striking down various efforts by the state to enact new restrictions on abortions.
The court also refused to disturb a that Arizona could not deny health-care benefits to the domestic partners of state employees. It also agreed that same-sex marriage are constitutional.
