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Picking your judge taints the ruling
Forum shopping, the practice of picking which judge a case appears in front of, is the worst thing happening in law right now. It happens in civil litigation, and it does more damage in public law, where the cases are about government itself.
If everyone knows one side wanted a particular judge, that judge doesn't look fair no matter how the case is decided, even if they are the most fair judge in the country. It has been really bad for the system.
The fix is easy to describe. Congress could fix it tomorrow, and so could the judiciary, which leaves no good reason the system still exists.
How does filing in one place pick the judge?
Some federal court divisions have only one judge, so a lawsuit filed there goes to that judge automatically. A plaintiff who knows a judge's record can choose a division accordingly, as long as venue rules allow suing there. In March 2024 the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body of the federal courts, issued guidance recommending that cases seeking to block laws or policies nationwide be assigned by random draw across a district. The guidance is advisory, and individual districts decide whether to adopt it.
Why did patent suits cluster in Texas towns?
For years patent plaintiffs favored the Eastern District of Texas, which was known for moving cases to trial quickly. In 2017 the Supreme Court's decision in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods narrowed where a patent suit can be filed to where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular place of business. Filings then shifted, and by 2020 the Waco division of the Western District of Texas, which had a single active judge, drew a large share of the country's new patent suits. The Western District later changed its assignment rules to spread those cases among judges.
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