Schumer slams Texas federal court for allowing ‘judge shopping’

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday slammed the chief judge of a Texas district court, accusing the judge of choosing to “ignore” recent guidance by the Judicial Conference to address a strategy called “judge shopping.”

“The Northern District of Texas has decided to keep allowing the odious practice of judge shopping,” Schumer said Monday, aiming his complaints at Chief Judge David Godbey of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Schumer claimed such practices have been “abused by right-wing activists,” despite both right-leaning and left-leaning litigants engaging in the strategy, which can result in having a case placed before a preferred judge.

“The Senate will consider legislative options to put an end to this misguided practice,” Schumer added, indicating he would counter efforts to allow “plaintiffs to choose their judge.”

Last month, the advisory body of the federal judiciary revealed at its semiannual meeting that certain cases would be randomly assigned to a judge within an entire district rather than merely within the smaller division where the lawsuits are filed as a means to counter judge shopping. The policy is currently not in effect for any federal courts, however.

The Northern Districtof Texas’s chief deputy of operations told the Washington Examiner the court “has not instructed that any changes be made to our case assignment process at this time.”

Democrats like Schumer have directed their frustration at the Northern District of Texas, in part because one appointee of former President Donald Trump, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, hears all civil cases filed in Amarillo. Last year, the judge made waves after a landmark decision to upend the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of the common abortion pill, before an appeals court rolled back part of his decision. Now, the Supreme Court is weighing whether to roll back changes the FDA made to the drug’s accessibility after 2016, such as making it more accessible by mail order.

In a March 21 letter, Schumer called on Godbey to adopt a policy to address forum shopping “as soon as possible.” His letter came days after the Judicial Conference published a memo clarifying that the policy was actually non-mandatory guidance.

While Schumer has directed his attention to the Northern District of Texas, he has not expressed outrage over similar tactics employed by left-leaning organizations.

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A recently unsealed panel report from 2023 revealed left-leaning litigators seeking to challenge an Alabama law that in part barred certain procedures for transgender minors engaged in conduct that “may have evidenced judge shopping.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), along with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), said last week he was “pleased that the judiciary has chosen not to interfere in the legislative process.”