From what I've gathered, the Judicial Conference's ill-fated policy is all-but-dead. What a blunder it was. Rather than focusing on areas of bipartisan agreement like patent and bankruptcy reform, the judges leaned into a contentious, hot-button issue. I worry that the well has now been poisoned for broad reform, though I'll share some thoughts in due course about how to improve things.
For now, I'd like to highlight some actual judge shopping in Alabama. And none of this judge shopping occurred in single-judge divisions. You see, Alabama has very few Democratic-appointed district court judges. By my rough count, in the entire state, there is one active Obama nominee, and two senior appointees from Clinton and Carter. The Carter appointee, Judge Myron Thompson in Montgomery (Middle District of Alabama), is well known for ruling in favor of progressive litigants. Unsurprisingly, if you are a progressive litigant in Alabama, you will do everything in your power to get the case assigned to Judge Thompson.
Which brings us to the present case. In 2022, Alabama enacted the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which prohibits certain medical procedures for minors. As could be expected, the law was subject to immediate challenges by all the usual suspects.
