"Texas Federal Court Rejects 'Judge Shopping' Policy"

The federal court in Texas has decided not to adopt a policy aimed at curbing "judge shopping," a practice favored by conservative litigants. The policy, proposed by the U.S. Judicial Conference, would have required cases challenging federal or state laws to be randomly assigned judges throughout a federal district, disrupting the tactic of filing cases in small divisions with judges appointed by Republican presidents. Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey of the Northern District of Texas announced the decision in a letter to Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, stating that the judges in his district reached a consensus not to change their case assignment process at this time.