The US District Court of the Northern District of Texas has decided not to adopt a proposal to change how cases with statewide or nationwide implications are assigned, in response to a push by the US judiciary’s policy-making body to curb the tactic of “judge-shopping.” Judge-shopping involves strategically filing cases in courthouses where the lawsuits are likely to be heard by judges sympathetic to the litigants. This practice has been on the rise in recent years, particularly in Texas, where individual courthouses have just one or two judges who hear all the cases filed there.
Cases filed in the Amarillo Division of the US District Court in Northern Texas are automatically assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who has become a popular choice for parties filing lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden’s policies. Kacsmaryk has issued rulings suspending the FDA’s approval of medication abortion drugs and blocking other Biden administration initiatives. The refusal by Chief Judge David Godbey, an appointee of George W. Bush, to adopt the proposed changes to case assignment policies comes in the wake of a recommendation by the Judicial Conference for any lawsuit seeking a nationwide or statewide order to be randomly assigned among a district-wide pool of judges.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Godbey stated that the trial judges in his district had met to discuss case assignments and had reached a consensus not to make any changes to the case assignment process at this time. Schumer expressed disappointment in the decision, calling the practice of judge-shopping “odious,” and indicated that the Senate would consider legislative options to put an end to it. Texas has other US district courts with single-judge divisions, in addition to Amarillo, where challenges to the Biden administration agenda are frequently routed.
While some courts in Texas had previously made changes to case assignment protocols for patent disputes after judge-shopping tactics received attention, the chief judges of those districts have not responded to inquiries about any changes to their case assignment policies in response to the Judicial Conference’s recommendations. The Judicial Conference indicated that the districtwide assignment policy was recommended but optional, prompting criticism from Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who argued that mandated policies would infringe on the discretion of district courts to design their own case assignment protocols.
