Judge Shopping Policy Selectively Targets Political Lawsuits

The federal judiciary’s new policy to tackle judge shopping appears to miss the kinds of cases that inspired Chief Justice John Roberts to tackle the problem in the first place.

The Judicial Conference announced a policy March 12 “limiting the ability of litigants to effectively choose judges in certain cases.” The policy is described as randomizing how such suits are assigned by homing in on lawsuits that “seek to bar or mandate state or federal actions.”

The change would make it harder to hand-pick judges in hot-button cases targeting federal laws and regulations, like a recent suit ...