Jeremiah Smith: “As we continue this debate, I refer back to the Ninth Circuit chart behind me. This is a situation where we see, again…”

“As we continue this debate, I refer back to the Ninth Circuit chart behind me. This is a situation where we see, again, nearly 90 percent of the Ninth Circuit cases have been reversed by the Supreme Court. I have had this chart up all morning because I think that is a very significant number, to say the least. Earlier in the debate, my colleague, Senator Reid, made the argument that oftentimes we have higher numbers, as much as 100-percent reversal, with some of the circuit courts. He is correct. But what he did not say is that sometimes the reversals are one or two cases. For example, he said there were several times when the First and the Second Circuits were reversed 100 percent of the time. He is right. In the two cases he cited, one was when there was only one case, another was when there were six. Several of them were in the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and others, a 100-percent overturn rate. The 100-percent overturn rate was based on one case. What we are talking about here in the Ninth Circuit is, in 1996 and 1997, 27 of 28 cases overturned, a 96-percent overturn ratio.”