June 17 (Reuters) - A federal court in Texas that has become a favored destination for conservatives suing to block President Joe Biden’s agenda on Monday adopted a new rule that would automatically pause decisions by judges to transfer cases to other jurisdictions.
A majority of judges on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas approved a rule that would stay for 21 days any decisions to transfer civil cases to courts outside of the jurisdiction of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The rule will take effect on Sept. 3, absent any changes in response to public comment, according to an order, opens new tab by Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey, and would at that time slow down transfers orders that without a stay can happen swiftly.
The rule will make it more difficult for the Biden administration to avoid defending against lawsuits in the Northern District, whose small courthouses in cities like Amarillo and Forth Worth have become a favored venue for challenges to its policies.
The one or two active federal judges in both of those two cities were appointed by Republican presidents and often rule in the favor of Republican state attorneys general and conservative activists on issues like abortion, immigration and gun control.
One of those judges, Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, last year suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously reversed the lower-court rulings that would have restricted access to the pill.
The U.S. Judicial Conference in March sought to curb so-called “judge shopping” of such lawsuits to these one-or-two judge courthouses by adopting a policy that called for lawsuits challenging federal or state laws to be assigned a judge randomly throughout a federal district.
But the policy was non-binding, and Godbey in a letter to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in late March said his court had decided at this time not to implement it, meaning cases stay in the small courthouses, or divisions, they are initially filed absent an order transferring them.
The new rule staying transfers came amid a high-profile fight over whether a banking industry lawsuit challenging the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection’s rule capping credit card late fees at $8 should remain in Texas or go to Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump in Fort Worth, has twice tried to transfer the case to a judge in D.C., only to have the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit direct him to keep the case.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has also played host to similar venue fights and in February adopted its own rule, opens new tab staying transfers to courts outside the 5th Circuit for 21 days.
