Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill would split up the Ninth Circuit, the nation's largest federal appeals court, which currently covers about 67 million people across nine states and territories.
• Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming would join the Eighth Circuit with Midwest states, while Arizona and Nevada would move to the Tenth Circuit. California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands would remain in a smaller Ninth Circuit.
• States moving to a new circuit would immediately lose the old circuit's legal precedent and start following the new circuit's rulings, which could change outcomes in immigration, criminal, environmental, and civil rights cases.
• The bill sets new judge counts for each court, 15 for the Eighth Circuit, 21 for the Ninth, and 16 for the Tenth, and calls for a new federal courthouse study in Rapid City, South Dakota.
• Cases already submitted for a decision before the law passes would be finished under the old rules, so ongoing litigation would not be disrupted mid-decision.