I think it is helpful to take a step back and consider the priorities of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
For decades, people on both sides of the aisle have raised valid complaints about forum shopping in patent and bankruptcy cases. There is not just judge shopping; there is actual judge selling, in which judges invite litigants to file in their courts. This is a real problem that may not garner headlines, but affects far more cases than those brought by the Texas Attorney General. And unlike with constitutional or administrative law challenges, which are reviewed de novo, and can be stayed by higher courts quickly, patent and bankruptcy cases are reviewed with a very deferential standard, and tend to stand.
But the Judicial Conference did not adopt a policy to address this issue on which there is bipartisan consensus. Instead, they adopted a policy with the express intent to clamp down on a practice used on only side of the aisle. These judges were surely aware of the impact of their policy. But they proceeded anyway.
