Chief Judge Dennis Saylor of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has issued an order regarding the random assignment of certain civil cases filed in the district. The order states that “any civil action seeking to bar or mandate nationwide enforcement of a federal law, including a rule, regulation, policy, or order of the executive branch or a federal agency, whether by declaratory judgment and/or any form of injunctive relief,” will be randomly assigned to one of the district’s thirteen active Article III judges.
The order matters because the vast majority of the district’s judges sit in Boston, with only one judge located in each of Springfield and Worcester. A party hoping to enjoin a federal law or regulation might be tempted to file in one of those cities in order to secure the single judge assigned there. The federal courts have increasingly resisted such efforts to “judge shop,” especially in cases where a single district judge is invited to permit or prevent the application of a federal law nationwide.
The Interdependent Third Branch 