New MAGA Legal Action Underscores Need for Sherrill’s Judge Shopping Legislation

WASHINGTON — Today, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) again underscored the urgent need for Congress to take action on “judge shopping” after GOP Attorneys General and extreme MAGA litigants sought nationwide injunctions on critical actions to prevent gun violence and protect LGBTQ Americans. 

“Whether it’s access to the abortion pill Mifepristone or, now, federal regulations on gun safety and protections for LGBTQ rights, we’ve seen MAGA Republicans repeatedly turn to a familiar page in their playbook to advance their extreme policy agenda: judge shopping. Dark money special interest groups are cherry-picking unelected judges to hear cases of national consequence – and they’re rigging America’s court system in their favor. Tactics like these fly in the face of our nation’s ideals for justice and fairness, and it’s time to put a stop to them by passing my End Judge Shopping Act. While the Judicial Conference guidance was a positive step forward, it’s clearer now than ever before that Congress must act to ensure our legal system is free from political influence. The consequences are too far reaching to simply ignore,” said Rep. Mikie Sherrill. 

Just this week, there have been threeinstances of right-wing lawsuits taking advantage of the judge shopping loophole. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was previously indicted on securities fraud and later impeached and suspended from office by the Texas House of Representatives, filed a legal challenge to the Biden Administrations Title IX rules before the GOP’s favorite judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk. He was joined by MAGA attorneys from Stephen Miller’s America First Legal group in the lawsuit. Louisiana’s attorney general filed a similar suit against the Title IX rules. Finally, AG Paxton filed another lawsuit this week in Kacsmaryk’s single judge division, challenging the Biden Administration’s rules to end the gun show loophole. This is the eighth challenge to Biden Administration policies in this division from AG Paxton.   

Rep. Sherrill introduced the End Judge Shopping Act of 2023 last year in direct response to the April 2023 decision in Alliance forHippocratic Medicine v. FDA. Anti-abortion advocates filed their case in the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas to guarantee Judge Kacsmaryk would hear their case to overturn the FDA’s decades old approval of Mifepristone, a safe and commonly-used form of medication abortion. Extremists were able to use “judge shopping” to pick a division and a judge they knew would rule in their favor with a nationwide injunction. This week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a major watchdog organization, endorsed the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced similar legislation in April.

Additionally, Sherrill is working to restore public trust in the federal judiciary. She has repeatedly called on Chief Justice John Roberts to establish an ethics counsel and independent investigative body within the Supreme Court following groundbreaking reports that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury vacations and gifts from GOP billionaire and mega-donor Harlan Crow.

Congresswoman Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, prosecuted federal cases and advised law enforcement on investigations as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey. She also served as an Outreach and Re-Entry Coordinator who created programs to develop trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

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