Forum Shopping

There are multiple national anti-abortion groups throughout the United States, but I don’t think any of them are based in Amarillo, Texas. What’s that got to do with anything? Because the federal judge who just ruled that the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill, mifepristone, is invalid (even though it was approved 23 years ago) is on a court in Amarillo.

Matthew Kacsmaryk is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He’s the only judge for that district. So, if a case is filed in the Northern District of Texas, it’s guaranteed that Kacsmaryk will be your judge. Kacsmaryk is also a right-wing Christian religious zealot who was counsel for anti-abortion groups before he became a judge. So if you want a ruling against abortion or gay rights or Obamacare or anything President Biden wants, then you want Kacsmaryk. If you too are a fundamentalist nutjob, he will rule on your side and insert all his anti-science conspiracy religious bullshit in his opinion because he can’t help himself. He hates the word “fetus.”

But, what if your organization that’s trying to strip women of control over their own bodies isn’t based in Amarillo? Let’s face it, who wants to be in Amarillo? I’ve never been to Amarillo but my first thought when it’s mentioned is, “No.” So what you do to get your case before the Jesus judge is to have an organization located in Amarillo file the case for you, and that’s where the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine comes in.

The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine is a consortium of anti-abortion groups. The organization relocated to Amarillo shortly after Judge Nutters was seated on that bench. Where did they relocate from? I don’t know. Their website doesn’t provide a lot of information and most of it is password encrypted. It mentions the groups it represents but doesn’t even link to them. There’s a video I didn’t watch because I’m afraid I won’t get that 1:40 of my life back, and a mission statement. It’s also a WordPress site and I know from experience that means they created it as cheaply as possible without having to have any web design knowledge. Quite frankly, I’m shocked they even own their domain and their site isn’t hosted on Blogspot.

What AHM did was go forum shopping. You’ve heard of politicians gerrymandering their districts so it’s not as much as voters choosing their representatives, but the candidates choosing their voters. Here, plaintiffs are choosing their judges.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently brought a case to Kacsmaryk’s court challenging a new Labor Department rule about the investment of pension trust assets. He could have filed this in Austin because that’s the state capital or Dallas, where the Labor Department’s regional offices are located, but no. He filed it in fucknut court. He’s done this seven times.

There are 27 divisions in Texas’ four district federal courts. Ten of those courts only have two judges. Nine only have one. Most states require judges to move to another court from time to time to make judge shopping more difficult. Texas does not have this requirement.

After Donald Trump was busted for stealing classified documents, he tried to get the entire thing thrown out by taking it to a judge he appointed and one of 14 who was confirmed AFTER he lost the election in 2020. Instead of fighting the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., Trump took it to Miami where Aileen Cannon, one of his appointees sat. Sure, it’s near Mar-a-Lago, but Trump and his lawyers specifically selected Cannon who sided with Trump on everything until a higher court threw all her rulings outs with a scolding of Trump’s judge.

How much experience did Cannon have as a judge before Trump put her on a federal bench? Zero. How much did Kacmaryk have as a judge? Also zero. Trump and Mitch McConnell put over 200 judges on federal benches, including three on the Supreme Court. One thing most of them have in common is inexperience. Kacsmaryk is 46 and Cannon is 42. The average age for Trump-appointed judges is 47. Our federal court system will be infested with Trumpers for decades.

A Gallup poll conducted in June 2022, showed that just 25 percent of Americans said they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Supreme Court. If 75 percent of Americans don’t have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, then they shouldn’t have it in the lower federal courts either.

Keep in mind that the over 200 judges were appointed by a guy who lost the popular vote and they were confirmed by a Republican Senate that also lost the popular vote. We are living by white Christian fundamentalist minority rule. Holy shit, this is Apartheid.

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