The US District Court of the Northern District of Texas has rejected a proposal from the US judiciary’s policy-making body to change how cases with statewide or nationwide implications are assigned in an effort to curb the practice of judge-shopping. Judge-shopping involves strategically filing cases in courthouses where the lawsuits are likely to be heard by sympathetic judges, and it has been on the rise in recent years, especially in Texas. The court currently assigns cases in a way that ensures any case filed in its Amarillo Division is automatically assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has become a go-to judge for parties filing lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden’s policies.
Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, has issued rulings suspending the FDA’s approval of medication abortion drugs and blocking other Biden administration initiatives. Despite a recommendation by the Judicial Conference to randomly assign nationwide or statewide cases among a district-wide pool of judges, the Northern District of Texas has decided not to make any changes to its case assignment process at this time. Chief Judge David Godbey communicated this decision to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had requested the implementation of the new case assignment proposal.
Schumer expressed disappointment in the court’s decision to allow the practice of judge-shopping to continue and stated that the Senate will consider legislative options to address the issue. Similar single-judge divisions in other US district courts in Texas, where challenges to the Biden administration agenda are frequently channeled through, have not yet responded to inquiries regarding any changes to their case assignment policies. The Judicial Conference had announced its intention to curb judge-shopping with the new case assignment policy, but it received pushback from Republican senators who argued that mandating such a policy would interfere with each district court’s discretion to design its own case assignment protocols.
The March 29 letter from Godbey to Schumer outlining the court’s decision was first reported by Law360. The decision not to change the case assignment process came after trial judges in the district met to discuss the issue and reached a consensus to maintain the current system. The Judicial Conference’s recommendation for districtwide assignment of cases with nationwide or statewide implications was characterized as optional rather than mandatory, allowing each district court to decide on its own case assignment protocols. Despite the debate and controversy surrounding the issue, the Northern District of Texas has chosen to continue with its current case assignment process, which has made it a popular destination for litigants seeking a sympathetic judge for their cases challenging the Biden administration’s policies.
