WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye announced that the Senate included a change in federal law in the Fiscal Year 1998 Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary bill requiring that every state in a federal judicial circuit be entitled to at least one judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hawaii has not had an active judge seated on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since the Honorable Herbert Y. C. Choy took senior status in October 1984. The provision would mandate a judge for Hawaii on the federal appeals court.

"This is a positive step for Hawaii's federal legal system, which has been unrepresented on the federal court of appeals for thirteen years. The current situation is both highly unusual and inappropriate when you consider that every other state in the Ninth Circuit has at least one judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. There is no excuse for Hawaii not to have a seat on this court, especially when there are presently numerous unfilled vacancies on this bench," stated Senator Inouye.

The Fiscal Year 1998 Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Appropriations Bill will now be transmitted to the White House to await President Clinton's signature.