Circuit Population Balance: Current vs. Proposed

How to read the cartograms: Each colored square represents approximately the same number of people. In the current system (left), the Ninth Circuit dominates the grid — it serves 68.3 million people, nearly five times the First Circuit's 14.3 million. In the proposed system (right), the blocks are nearly uniform in size. That visual uniformity is population equity.

The tradeoff: Achieving this balance requires dividing 15 states between circuits at existing federal judicial district boundaries. The Act argues this tradeoff is justified: equal access to federal justice should not be sacrificed to preserve nineteenth-century administrative groupings.