NCBA Fourth Circuit Resolution
Article Date: Friday, June 16, 2006
Written By: Russell Rawlings
NORTH CAROLINA BAR ASSOCIATION
Resolution Supporting Proportional Judicial Representation
WHEREAS in fulfilling its mission to promote the equitable and effective administration of justice, the North Carolina Bar Association supports a judicial system that provides judicial officers in each jurisdiction consonant with the state’s population and judicial needs; and
WHEREAS Judge J. Michael Luttig’s resignation leaves an ongoing imbalance on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit such that North Carolina’s citizens currently have only one judge from their state on the Circuit bench. North Carolina has historically been underrepresented on the Fourth Circuit despite its large population, having sent only seven of the 46 judges who have served on the Fourth Circuit since 1801. Between 1999 and 2003 North Carolina was only the second state in the history of the United States with no judicial representation on the Circuit bench; and
WHEREAS North Carolina is the most populous state within the Fourth Circuit, with a population of more than 8.5 million; more than a million greater than that of Virginia, the next largest state, which is represented by four judges. North Carolina’s population is greater than the combined population of Maryland, with 5.5 million citizens, and West Virginia, with 1.8 million, represented by three judges, and it is more than double that of South Carolina, with 4.1 million citizens, which is represented by six judges. By population, North Carolina should be expected to provide between four and five of the fourteen judges, but today North Carolina has only one; less than a quarter of the number its population should dictate; and
WHEREAS an appellate judge whose chambers are situated in a particular state generally will be more familiar with its substantive law and with the jurisdiction's customs and mores, which can facilitate efforts to reconcile federal policies and more localized concerns. The residents of a state may also have greater confidence in, and find more acceptable, the decisions of an appellate court that includes members who live in their home state. In contrast, when a regional circuit has disproportionately limited judicial representation for an extended period, its residents may develop an unhealthy sense of estrangement from, and even distrust of, the appeals court system that propounds an expanding corpus of federal law that governs them.
IT IS THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the North Carolina Bar Association urges the United States Congress and the President to fill Judge Luttig’s vacant seat with a jurist from the state of North Carolina who has substantial ties to the state.
This the 16th day of June, 2006.
Clark Smith, President
North Carolina Bar Association