The federal judiciary adopted a new policy to make it harder for parties to engage in judge shopping by filing lawsuits in jurisdictions where they expect a friendly reception.
The policy requires civil suits seeking nationwide or statewide relief to have judges randomly assigned, even in areas where one judge normally hears local cases.
Judge shopping gained attention after an abortion medication case was filed in Texas, virtually ensuring it went before an anti-abortion Trump appointee.
The new rule aims to curb private and state attorneys from essentially picking judges for cases with impacts beyond a small division or town.
It does not apply to cases only seeking local action.
The policy change was made in response to many national and statewide injunctions, not any single case.
“We get the idea of having local cases resolved locally, but when a case is a declaratory judgement action or national injunction, obviously the stakes of the case go beyond that small town,” Judge Jeff Sutton said.
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