Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization Act of 2026

The **Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization Act of 2026** (S. 5347) reorganizes the geographic boundaries, judge allocations, designated court locations, and legal precedent structure for three federal appellate circuits: the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Judicial Circuits.

This legislation affects: * Active and senior federal circuit court judges currently serving in the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits. * Individuals, businesses, and organizations involved in federal legal appeals within the affected states and territories: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The bill alters the geographic scope, number of judges, and meeting locations for the three federal circuit courts as follows: * **Eighth Circuit:** * **New Boundaries:** Will cover Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Adds Alaska, Idaho, and Montana from the Ninth Circuit, and Wyoming from the Tenth Circuit). * **Judge Allocation:** Required to have 15 circuit judges. * **Court Locations:** Designated to sit in St. Louis, Kansas City, Rapid City, and St. Paul. * **Ninth Circuit:** * **New Boundaries:** Will cover California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, and Washington. (Removes Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada). * **Judge Allocation:** Required to have 21 circuit judges. * **Tenth Circuit:** * **New Boundaries:** Will cover Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah. (Adds Arizona and Nevada from the Ninth Circuit; removes Wyoming). * **Judge Allocation:** Required to have 16 circuit judges. * **Court Locations:** Designated to sit in Denver, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. * **Judge Reassignment:** Active and senior circuit judges are automatically transferred to the newly defined Eighth, Ninth, or Tenth Circuit based on the location of their official duty station.

The provided text summary does not mention any appropriations, spending allocations, taxes, fees, or estimated costs associated with implementing this reorganization.

* The provided text does not explicitly detail exceptions, exemptions, or transition deadlines. * The exact timing rule for judge reassignments is incomplete in the provided source text (the text cuts off regarding the specific day used to determine a judge's official duty station).

This bill shifts several Western and Mountain states into different federal appellate court circuits—shrinking the geographic size of the Ninth Circuit while expanding the Eighth and Tenth Circuits—and reallocates judges and designated court meeting locations accordingly.