This post at the Legal History Blog links to an article in National Law Journal about work on oral histories of the Ninth Circuit, specifically the work of Stanford law professor Michele Dauber with Judge Stephen Reinhardt.

As one might expect, the always-present “controversy” over the Ninth Circuit is discussed in the article. Professor Dauber notes one result of that controversy, in what I think is an interesting way to think about it: “People in Maine know about the 9th Circuit. That’s weird,” Dauber said. “No one in California knows anything about the 1st Circuit.”