Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress, First Session, Volume 145, Part 14 Page: 19,403
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August 4, 1999
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and Guam,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar-
ianas Islands; and
Whereas United States Senators Mur-
kowski of Alaska and Gorton of Washington
have introduced S. 253, a bill that would
amend Title 28 of the United States Code to
divide the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit into three regional divisions and a
fourth circuit division, and that has the
short title of the "Federal Ninth Circuit Re-
organization Act of 1999"; and
Whereas S. 253 proposes to place the states
of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and
Washington within one regional division of
the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
and to place the other states and territories,
possessions, and protectorates into two other
regional divisions; and
Whereas S. 253 proposes to adopt the rec-
ommendations of a Congressionally man-
dated commission, chaired by retired Su-
preme Court Justice Byron R. White, that
studied the realignment of the federal courts
of appeal; the recommendations were made
in a report issued in December 1998; and
Whereas the membership of the Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is heavily
weighted toward the State of California and
the court seems to concern itself predomi-
nately with issues arising out of California
and the Southwestern United States; and
Whereas the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit's case filings are consistently either
greater than any other federal circuit or
among the greatest; and
Whereas the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit is the largest of the 13 circuit courts
of appeal, spanning 1,400,000 square miles,
and is larger than the First, Second, Third,
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh
Circuits combined; and
Whereas the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit serves a population of more than
49,000,000 people, almost 60 percent more
than any other federal circuit; and
Whereas members of the Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit have shown a sur-
prising lack of understanding of Alaska's
people and geography; and
Whereas, in the so-called "Katie John"
subsistence case, which is of tremendous im-
portance to the people of the State of Alas-
ka, even though the Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit granted expedited consider-
ation of that case, the court did not issue its
decision for over 13 months; and
Whereas the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit consistently ranks at or near the
bottom of the circuits in time from the filing
of a case in the district court to final dis-
position in the court appeals; and
Whereas Attorney General Bruce Botelho
has estimated that there are more than 200
Alaska cases currently pending before the
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and
Whereas, previously, the Attorneys Gen-
eral of the States of Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
and Washington have also found that similar
issues of unnecessary delay concerning, lack
of understanding of, and lack of consider-
ation for cases and issues by the Court of Ap-
peals for the Ninth Circuit exist in regard to
those states; and
Whereas the division of the Court of Ap-
peals for the Ninth Circuit into regions
would benefit the States of Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Oregon, and Washington by pro-
viding speedier and more consistent rulings
by jurists who have a greater familiarity
with the social, geographical, political, and
economic life of the region, especially if
those jurists were required to be residents of
that region;Be it, Resolved That the Alaska State Leg-
islature strongly supports S. 253 and the di-
vision of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit into three regional divisions with one
region consisting of the States of Alaska,
Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington
headquartered in the Pacific Northwest; and
be it
Further Resolved, That the Alaska State
Legislature questions the need for a fourth
circuit division and urges the sponsors of S.
253 and the United States Congress to in-
quire into the need for a fourth circuit divi-
sion; and be it
Further Resolved, That the Alaska State
Legislature urges the sponsors of S. 253 to
consider including a requirement that judges
assigned to one of the three regional divi-
sions must reside in that regional division
and urges the United States Congress to
amend S. 253 to address this concern; and be
it
Further Resolved, That the Alaska State
Legislature believes that a reorganization of
the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is
long overdue and urges the United States
Congress to expeditiously consider and enact
S. 253.
Copies of this resolution shall be sent to
the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of
the United States and President of the U.S.
Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond,
President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate;
the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives; the Hon-
orable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the
U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dick Armey, Ma-
jority Leader of the U.S. House of Represent-
atives; the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Mi-
nority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honor-
able Richard A. Gephardt, Minority Leader
of the U.S. House of Representatives; the
Honorable Orrin G. Hatch, Chair of the U.S.
Senate Committee on the Judiciary; the
Honorable Henry J. Hyde, Chair of the U.S.
House Committee on the Judiciary; and to
the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honor-
able Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and
the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representa-
tive, members of the Alaska delegation in
Congress.
POM-289. A resolution adopted by the Leg-
islature of the State of Alaska relative to
the year 2000 census; to the Committee on
Governmental Affairs.
LEGISLATIVE RESOLVE No. 22
Be it resolved by the legislature of the State of
Alaska:
Whereas the Constitution of the United
States requires an enumeration of the popu-
lation every 10 years and entrusts the Con-
gress with overseeing each decennial enu-
meration; and
Whereas the sole constitutional purpose of
the decennial census is to apportion the
seats in the United States House of Rep-
resentatives among the several states; and
Whereas an accurate and legal decennial
census is necessary to properly apportion the
seats in the United States House of Rep-
resentatives among the states and to create
legislative districts within the states; and
Whereas 13 U.S.C. 141(c) mandates that the
Bureau of the Census provide each state with
basic tabulations of population (P.L. 94-171
data) within one year after the decennial
census date; and
Whereas the Alaska State Legislature be-
lieves that Article I, Section 2, Constitution
of the United States, in order to ensure an
accurate count and to minimize the poten-
tial for political manipulation, mandates an
"actual enumeration," meaning a physicalheadcount of the population, and prohibits
reliance on estimates of the population for
purposes of apportioning seats in the United
States House of Representatives among the
several states; and
Whereas legislative redistricting con-
ducted by the states is a critical subfunction
of the constitutional requirement to appor-
tion representatives among the states; and
Whereas the United States Supreme Court,
in Department of Commerce v. United States
House, slip. op. no. 98-404, 1999 WL 24616, 67
U.S.L.W. 4090, ruled on January 25, 1999, that
13 U.S.C. 195 prohibits the proposed use by
the Bureau of Census of statistical sampling
in the determination of population for pur-
poses of apportioning seats in the United
States House of Representatives among the
several states; and
Whereas the appellees in Department of
Commerce v. United States House estab-
lished standing partly on the basis of a claim
of expected intrastate vote dilution due to
the proposed use by the Bureau of the Census
of statistical sampling; and
Whereas the use of census data adjusted by
means of sampling or other statistical meth-
odologies in redistricting by the State of
Alaska could raise serious issues of vote di-
lution and violate "one-person, one-vote"
legal protections, expose the state to pro-
tracted and costly litigation over redis-
tricting, and ultimately result in a court rul-
ing invalidating the redistricting plan; and
Whereas the Alaska State Legislature be-
lieves that a person, once enumerated,
should not be counted by sampling or other
statistical methodologies for purposes of re-
districting; and
Whereas every reasonable and practical ef-
fort should be made to obtain the fullest and
most accurate count of the population pos-
sible, including appropriate funding for state
and local census outreach and education pro-
grams and post-census local review;
Be it Resolved That the Alaska State Legis-
lature calls on the Bureau of the Census to
conduct the 2000 decennial census consistent
with the ruling in Department of Commerce
v. United States House and with the Con-
stitution of the United States; and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State
Legislature calls on the Bureau of the Cen-
sus to conduct a physical headcount of the
population and not to use random sampling
techniques or other statistical methodolo-
gies that add persons to or subtract persons
from the census count in developing redis-
tricting data under P.L. 94-171 for use by the
states in intrastate redistricting; and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State
Legislature opposes the use of P.L. 94-171
data for state legislative redistricting based
on census numbers that have been deter-
mined in whole or in part by the use of sta-
tistical inferences derived by means of ran-
dom sampling techniques or other statistical
methodologies that add or subtract persons;
and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State
Legislature requests that Alaska be given
P.L. 94-171 data for legislative redistricting
identical to the census tabulation date used
to apportion seats in the United States
House of Representatives, derived from a
physical headcount of the population, and
not adjusted using random sampling tech-
niques or other statistical methodologies
that add persons to or subtract persons from
the census count; and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State
Legislature urges the Congress, as the
branch of government assigned the responsi-
bility of overseeing the decennial enumera-
tion of the population, to take whatever19403
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United States. Congress. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress, First Session, Volume 145, Part 14, book, August 1999; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30912/m1/84/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.