Alabama judge unseals report accusing top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improper judge shopping

[LostOne4Ever]

Alabama judge unseals report accusing top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improper judge shopping
The report is related to lawsuits brought against Alabama’s 2022 ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth.
KATE SOSIN
ORION RUMMLER
MARCH 20 2024 1:56 PM EST

A federal judge in Alabama has unsealed a report that accuses dozens of the nation’s top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improperly trying to select a judge friendly to a lawsuit they brought in the state.

The practice of judge shopping, or trying to get a case in front of a judge who will side with attorneys, is not illegal, though it’s a practice the federal judiciary recently has tried to discourage. It has recently gotten attention as a tactic used in cases brought by anti-abortion groups.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Liles Burke released a 50-page report by a three-judge panel in the Middle District Court of Alabama that accuses 39 attorneys of judge shopping in a 2022 case they brought challenging Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth. Of those, nine face possible sanctions that could at least complicate, if not end, their legal careers.

{snip}

But impacted attorneys claim they are being targeted with regressive and harsh tactics that recall those used against Black civil rights litigators battling racist laws in the 1950s and 60s. Black lawyers in the United States faced rampant discrimination during the Civil Rights Movement.

Last year, the Alabama State Bar Association inducted the late attorney Arthur Madison into its Hall of Fame for his work registering Black voters, including Rosa Parks. But that work cost him his career. Despite the honor, Madison remains disbarred in the state. His family continues to advocate for the state to restore his license posthumously.

[…]

More at link:
https://www.advocate.com/law/alabama-judge-shopping

[LostOne4Ever]

1. Looks to me like they are going after the lawyers

So that no-one will be willing to take up trans cases and prevent any legal recourse!

[oldmanlynn]

5. Thats what i feel. A form of retaliation by this federal judge. Nfm

[Turbineguy]

2. Only trump is allowed to judge shop.

[wolfie001]

3. Repukes have the deck so stacked in their favor

They're using the SC as their backstop. Two generations of laws are being compromised because lazy, thoughtless losers didn't want to vote for Hillary in 2016. Maddening!

[oldmanlynn]

4. If they do you think its because we let them?

Im not trying to be stupid but if we dont make a stand a fight against these scenarios then we lose.

I personally think this judge was retaliating in some way against the notion that conservative attorneys have been predominantly judge shopping on abortion related and border related issues in texas for a while.

[wolfie001]

6. I just hope common sense somehow wins out

Maybe a new Age of Enlightenment that rejects religion and works for the common good. Religion is a dead end. Doesn't solve anything, only opens healing wounds. Appointing any judge who is knee deep in their religion (Samuel Alito, Scalia, Amy Comey Barrett, the list is long) is a mistake for an open society. Just my thoughts