United for Democracy Applauds New Rule Addressing Judge Shopping and Continues to Call for Congressional Action
A new policy from the Judicial Conference of the United States is a step in the right direction to address rampant judge shopping and return our courts to the people – but much more is needed
United for Democracy: “Congress can act to stop the MAGA relentless power grab by reforming our courts, and it must”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, United for Democracy applauded the Judicial Conference of the United States for announcing a new policy addressing the practice of “judge shopping,” which has enabled right-wing MAGA activists to put their case on friendly dockets and advance an extreme agenda through the lower courts.
Stasha Rhodes, Campaign Director of United for Democracy — a coalition of 130+ state and national organizations calling on Congress to fix the broken Supreme Court — issued the following statement:
“Americans should be able to trust that judges hear cases in a fair and objective way. For too long, right-wing activists and their billionaire allies have been able to bring forth sham cases and handpick judges to send the most extreme cases to the Supreme Court, creating a pipeline for MAGA priorities like restricting access to medication abortion, rolling back laws aimed at gun violence prevention, undermining workers’ rights, and jeopardizing environmental protections.
“Right now, there’s no sharper example of what politically motivated judge shopping looks like than the Fifth Circuit, and in Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s court where a jury trial will take place later this year in a case that is intended to deny millions of patients medical care and shut down Planned Parenthood health centers in Texas and nationwide. Limits on judge shopping came too late to prevent this abuse of our judicial system, but should serve as a powerful reminder of the consequences of gaming the system.
“As the Judicial Conference moves to limit the same underhanded tactics that made this baseless attack on Planned Parenthood possible, it is clear just how far right wing activists have gone in manipulating our judicial system to achieve their own extreme vision for our country–and how much more we need to do to stop them.
“Congress can act to stop the right wing’s relentless power grab by reforming our courts, and it must.”