Supreme Court Justice Circuit Riding Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9290 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9290

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the allotment of
      Supreme Court justices to circuits, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 11, 2026

Mr. Morelle (for himself, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Mullin, and Mrs.
   Ramirez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the allotment of
      Supreme Court justices to circuits, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supreme Court Justice Circuit Riding
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Circuit riding, the system of the Supreme Court
        justices traveling the country to serve as judges of the
        various Federal circuit courts, was an essential component of
        the Supreme Court's practice for the first 121 years of its
        history. See David R. Stras, Why Supreme Court Justices Should
        Ride Circuit Again, 651 MINN. L. REV. 1710, 1711 (2007); see
        also Stuart v. Laird, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 299 (1803) (rejecting
        constitutional objections to circuit riding). That practice
        ended in 1911.
            (2) For the justices, the practice of circuit riding
        exposed the justices to life outside of Washington and brought
        them closer to the American public.
            (3) Today's justices, in contrast, spend roughly 9 months a
        year cloistered in the Supreme Court building in Washington,
        DC, rendering decisions and issuing opinions on some of the
        most consequential issues of the day. See Stras, supra, at
        1711.
            (4) The principal historical arguments against circuit
        riding regarded burdensome travel and a burgeoning docket. Both
        concerns have dissipated. Modern-day travel is convenient and
        the Supreme Court's docket has shrunk considerably. According
        to an analysis by Adam Feldman, a lawyer and political
        scientist who publishes empirical work on the Supreme Court,
        the Supreme Court's workload has steadily declined since the
        1960s. Indeed, by the mid-2010s, the Supreme Court was deciding
        fewer cases than it has since the Civil War and Reconstruction.
        Adam Feldman, Looking Back to Make Sense of the Court's
        (Relatively) Light Workload, EMPIRICAL SCOTUS (Jan. 9, 2018).
            (5) Today, the public's confidence in the Supreme Court is
        near historic lows. Joseph Copeland, Favorable views of Supreme
        Court remain near historic low, PEW RSCH CTR. (Aug. 8, 2024).
        Most Americans cannot even name a single Supreme Court justice.
        See Emily Birnbaum, Poll: More than half of Americans can't
        name a single Supreme Court justice, ROLL CALL (Aug. 28, 2018).
            (6) For these reasons, restoring the practice of circuit
        riding would help to restore the public's trust in the
        justices, bring them closer to the people, and expose them to
        life outside of the secluded confines of Washington, DC. As
        then-professor (now judge) David Stras observed, ``[a] modern
        form of circuit riding would ensure that justices gain exposure
        to a wider array of legal issues, the laws of various States,
        and the difficulties faced by lower courts in implementing the
        Court's sweeping (and sometimes confounding) rulings'' Stras,
        supra, at 1711.

SEC. 3. ALLOTMENT OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICES TO CIRCUITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 42 of title 28, United States Code is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 42. Allotment of Supreme Court justices to circuits
    ``(a) In General.--The Chief Justice of the United States and the
associate justices of the Supreme Court shall from time to time be
allotted as circuit justices among the circuits by order of the Supreme
Court. The Chief Justice shall make such allotments for any recess
during the period beginning on July 1 and ending on October 1, or while
the court is otherwise in vacation. A justice may be assigned to more
than one circuit, and two or more justices may be assigned to the same
circuit.
    ``(b) Process.--A justice of the Supreme Court allotted as a
circuit justice to a United States Court of Appeals shall serve
consistent with the following:
            ``(1) The justice shall sit on not less than 1 panel of the
        Court of Appeals.
            ``(2) The justice shall sit on one or more panels of the
        United States Courts of Appeals for not less than 10 days of
        oral argument during each year.
            ``(3) To the greatest extent practicable, a justice shall
        not sit with the same judge for more than 10 days of oral
        argument during any two-year period.
            ``(4) The justice shall engage in such service during the
        time period specified in subsection (a), pursuant to the
        regulations provided in subsection (d).
            ``(5) No more than one justice may sit on a panel in order
        to fulfill the requirements of this section.
            ``(6) The justice is ineligible to vote on or participate
        in an en banc rehearing of any matter.
            ``(7) The justice is eligible to vote for panel rehearing
        to the extent that they were a member of the original panel.
            ``(8) The justice may not render such service by video
        argument or teleconference.
    ``(c) Scheduling.--The chief judge of each circuit shall schedule
proceedings such that the justices may fulfill the requirements of this
section.
    ``(d) Reimbursement of Necessary Expenses.--Provision shall be made
for payment of reasonable travel, lodging, and other expenses incurred
by the justices, and any staff accompanying a justice, in fulfilling
the requirements of this section consistent with section 5702 of title
5, United States Code.''.
    (b) Disqualification.--Section 455(b) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) For any consideration of a matter after the justice
        has participated as a circuit justice.''.
    (c) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Chief Justice, in consultation with the
Judicial Conference of the United States shall, after appropriate
public notice and opportunity for comment, issue relevant regulations
for the process of allotting circuit justices among the circuits in
accordance with this Act.
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