There’s a reason why the lawsuit challenging FDA approval for the abortion pill, mifepristone, was filed in Amarillo, Texas.

The judge who heard the case is a Trump appointee with a history of delivering conservative-leaning rulings. Crucially, he’s the only judge in his division.

When a lawsuit is filed in a single-judge division like Amarillo, it’s called “judge shopping” -- all but guaranteeing a cherry-picked judge who will deliver the desired ruling.

As a former prosecutor, this trend really worries me. I introduced a bill that would prevent judge shopping by requiring that cases with national implications get filed in divisions with more than one judge.

Texas is becoming a destination for judge shopping.

Usually, divisions have more than one judge serving them and cases are randomly assigned to help ensure a fair process.

Texas is unique for having more single-judge divisions than most other states. You can tell, because the Biden Administration has been sued 28 times in Texas courthouses and the majority of those cases were filed in single-judge divisions.

So while the majority of Americans oppose laws banning access to abortion medication, anti-choice groups like the one that filed the mifepristone lawsuit can rig the system and advance their extreme agendas -- at the expense of the rest of us.

Because even though the mifepristone case was filed in Amarillo, its impact would be felt across the country. It could dismantle access to the most common form of abortion everywhere -- including in New Jersey where abortion is still legal. 

Our justice system is an important tenet of our democracy -- we can’t afford for it to be undercut by extremists. Please -- will you add our name and show your support for my bill to prevent judge shopping?

Thank you for all you do,

Mikie