Save Money, Don’t Go to Maui, Senators Urge

Looks like U.S. Sens. Jess Sessions and Chuck Grassley haven’t given up.

Since May, the two Republican senators have been bashing the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals over a planned conference in Maui.

Civil Beat wrote about the initial dust up then, but today we received a new letter from the senators to Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski that asks the him to cancel the August trip, which they say will cost taxpayers more than $1 million.

“At a time when the American taxpayers have been required to tighten their belts, it would seem only appropriate that the American Judiciary, while spending money provided by those taxpayers, would be required to do so as well.”

The senators go on to request information from the Ninth Circuit for all contracts and agreements that have been entered into for each yearly conference as well as any proposals that were received from hotels or restorts to host the events.

I guess we’ll stay tuned to see what Kozinski fires back, although if previous back-and-forth is any indicator, it could take awhile.

— Nick Grube