The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules of the U.S judiciary will be following how district courts react to recent guidance designed to mitigate judge shopping. This approach taken will help the committee in its deliberation whether to adopt a strict rule against the infamous practice of judge shopping. The committee is chaired by the U.S District Judge Robin Rosenberg, who disclosed this during a recent meeting held in Denver.
Judge shopping, a custom where plaintiffs file cases in certain courts with hopes of the suit being presided over by a judge they presume will be more receptive to their arguments, has been in the spotlight, provoking debate on a national scale.
This attention is fuelled by right-leaning objections to policies backed by the Biden administration making their way into the federal trial courts, which are subject to authority of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, known to be conservatively inclined.
In a bid to curb the rising menace, the judiciary’s policy-making body, the Judicial Conference, formulated and passed a non-binding policy against judge shopping in March.
As per the guidance, district courts were asked to adopt deterrent measures against judge shopping. Meanwhile, Andrew Bradt, the advisory committee’s associate reporter and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is still investigating if a federal law against the practice can be adopted.
Rising to the occasion, the Justice Department’s Brian Boynton, the principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Civil Division has shown readiness to support the evaluation of the matter. He expressed interest in assisting with the inquiry about judiciary authority and the shaping of a pertinent rule.
Last year, Boynton wrote a letter to the committee urging the judiciary to adopt such a rule.
The Northern District of Texas has been in the crosshairs as it has been accused of judge shopping, instigated by the current case assignment rules stating that certain civil suits are heard by specific judges.
This concern was brought to the knowledge of Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey of the Northern District by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). However, Godbey conveyed that the court wouldn’t immediately amend its case assignment guidelines in response to the guidance. Schumer has since mentioned considering “legislative options” in reaction.
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