Friend,

Last week, NILC sent a letter to four chief judges of Texas’s federal district courts, urging them to put an end to the rampant and harmful practice of judge shopping in Texas, and we are calling on you today to help us deliver our urgent message.

A recap of what’s happening:
Litigants are exploiting Texas legal case assignment rules to hand pick specific judges that they believe will rule in their favor. This is allowing litigants, like the State of Texas, to push their extremist agenda forward, resulting in significant consequences nationwide. Judge shopping undermines the principles of fairness and impartiality within the judiciary and erodes public confidence in our courts and the legal process.

Real-life consequences:
To give you a sense of how judge shopping is playing out in Texas, here are a few examples:

• Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): In March, anti-abortion groups fought to block access to mifepristone, an abortion medication commonly prescribed by doctors and approved by the FDA decades ago. They filed their lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas, where all civil cases are assigned to a single judge, who was appointed by Trump. 
• Texas v. United States: Texas filed its lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities in Victoria, Texas, hundreds of miles away from the border, but safely in the hands of one of Texas’s favored judges. 
• Children's Health Defense v. The Washington Post: Private actors, with no clear ties to Texas, filed an anti-vaccine lawsuit in Amarillo, a single-judge jurisdiction in northern Texas. The plaintiffs in the case claimed they had “sufficient ties” to the district, despite having no residential or business presence in the state — a clear example of judge shopping. 

Your support matters, friend:
NILC filed an amicus brief on judge shopping last September, and we are continuing to take a stand against this practice — and now, we need your support. Will you join us, members of Congress, and our partner organizations across the country to help us push for change and ensure these legal cases are assigned fairly?

Please, sign on to our people’s letter to the courts, urging them to end the detrimental practice of judge shopping and prevent further abuse of the judicial system >>>

Thank you for joining our fight.

— National Immigration Law Center