How Long Does It Take To Flush the 9th Circuit Down the Toilet?
Slate's Dahlia Lithwick posits here that the 9th Circuit must have some unwritten rule for authoring opinions:
Where at all possible, decide close cases for the defendant, particularly if he is indisputably guilty. Take the most extreme possible position you can, then craft a holding that reaches far beyond the facts of this case. Under no circumstances shall you cite controlling authority from the Supreme Court, or contradictory cases from your own or other circuits. Strive to write the opinion as though you are God and you invented The Law yesterday.
She then gives a hilarious account of the recent Supreme Court oral argument in USA v. Lashawn Lowell Banks.