11th Circuit has oral argument only 11% of the time

That's second fewest in the country.  Seems way too low.  Only the Fourth Circuit is worse at 10.5%.  The Second Circuit, which has about the same number of cases, has oral argument 23% of the time. 

A few weeks back Rumpole asked whether his readers would rather be a state Supreme Court Justice or a federal district judge.  Well, a Montana Supreme Court Justice has just been nominated to the district court.  So, at least for him, the answer is the feds.

And finally, more sequestration fall out for the judiciary.  BLT covers it:

The AO identified a slew of other problems posed by sequestration: fewer probation officers to supervise ex-offenders; a 20 percent cut in funding for drug testing and mental health treatment; case processing backlogs because of fewer clerk's office staff; a 30 percent cut in funding for court security systems; delays in payments to court-appointed criminal defense lawyers; and "deep cuts" to information technology programs.
"Reductions of this magnitude strike at the heart of our entire system of justice and spread throughout the country," Gibbons said. "The longer the sequestration stays in place, the more severe will be its impact on the courts and those who use them."