The contention is that the 9th Circuit is a) liberal and b) often overturned.

That is is liberal is certainly no surprise. That a liberal court would be overturned by a comparatively conservative Supreme Court isn't much of a surprise.

The money 'graph is:

Although the 9th Circuit's caseload comprised approximately 17% of the federal appellate cases terminated in the year ending March 31, 2002, its decisions accounted for close to half (43%) of all the federal appellate decisions reviewed by the Supreme Court this past term.

To the extent this reflects the general trend--and I understand it does--this is hardly a matter of propaganda.

So I'm still confused. It seems to me that there's no there there.

The contention is the 9th circuit is the "most over turned appellate court". Clearly, this is only true if you ignore the 4th, 5th, 8th and 10th circuit, which were overturned 100% of the time.

I don't think the point being made on the right is the "most reviewed".

Sorry for being so dim.

For the most part, the Supremes don't review a case unless they think they need to DO something with it. Usually, that means overturn. Sometimes, it means to reconcile it with what other circuits are doing.

- 17% of all cases at Circuit level
- 43% of all cases reviewed by Supremes
- 45% of all reversals by Supremes

And there's no evidence that the cases the 9th hears are more important than those elsewhere. Indeed, the DC Circuit likely holds that distinction.

And, to re-emphasize, the argument seems to be twofold as to why this is:

1. The 9th is simply more liberal/activist than the other courts

2. The sheer size of the Circuit and incredibly large number of judges and thus 3-panel combo possibilities makes for a ton of odd rulings. The circuit is way too damn big.

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