The subcommittee heard testimony on legislation to split up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit is currently the largest of the federal appeals circuits, encompassing eleven Western states and territories. The legislation proposed splitting the Ninth in two, creating a new Twelfth Circuit. The witnesses were three Ninth Circuit judges: Chief Judge Schroeder and Judge Kozinski who opposed the bill, and Judge O’Scannlain who supported the bill.