Howard Berman: “Perhaps the most eloquent and forceful argument against the amendment being proposed and the split being proposed by the…”

“Perhaps the most eloquent and forceful argument against the amendment being proposed and the split being proposed by the gentleman from Idaho came from the former chief judge of the Ninth Circuit, a Montana justice, Judge Browning, who felt very strongly that the interests of justice were not served by this particular split. As I listened to the proponents of this amendment talk, the judges do not want it. The lawyers do not want it. They are not talking the merits. They are scared of the judges. We hear no clamor from the litigants about a split of the circuit. We hear no argument that there is some compelling public ground swell for this split. Some of my colleagues do not like this, and they want to ascribe motivations to people who disagree with them. They are afraid of the judges. They assume the judges are not going to act on what is in their interests. They are not going to lose their judgeships over this split. They believe justice is not served by this split. I urge opposition to this amendment.”