Dianne Feinstein: “today, with my distinguished colleague, Harry Reid, I am introducing S. 248, a bill to establish a Commission on…”

“today, with my distinguished colleague, Harry Reid, I am introducing S. 248, a bill to establish a Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals. The Commission proposal emerged last year during a debate over a controversial bill to divide the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result of that discussion, it became clear to me and the majority of my colleagues that there was no consensus on how best to resolve the problem of caseload growth in the U.S. courts. The idea of a study commission gained broad support and has independent merit. Legislation to form a study commission was approved twice by the Senate in the 104th Congress: in March 1996 as a stand-alone bill, and later in the session as part of the Senate amendments to H.R. 3610, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997. Although the Senate amendment was not included in the final version of H.R. 3610 signed by the President on September 23, 1996, the initial funding for the Commission was appropriated therein. The authorizing legislation deserves a speedy enactment by the 105th Congress. The Commission legislation we are offering today is evenhanded, fair, and genuinely bipartisan.”