Alabama judge unseals report accusing top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improper judge shopping

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Alabama judge unseals report accusing top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improper judge shopping
The report is related to lawsuits brought against Alabama’s 2022 ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth.
KATE SOSIN
ORION RUMMLER
MARCH 20 2024 1:56 PM EST

A federal judge in Alabama has unsealed a report that accuses dozens of the nation’s top LGBTQ+ rights attorneys of improperly trying to select a judge friendly to a lawsuit they brought in the state.

The practice of judge shopping, or trying to get a case in front of a judge who will side with attorneys, is not illegal, though it’s a practice the federal judiciary recently has tried to discourage. It has recently gotten attention as a tactic used in cases brought by anti-abortion groups.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Liles Burke released a 50-page report by a three-judge panel in the Middle District Court of Alabama that accuses 39 attorneys of judge shopping in a 2022 case they brought challenging Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth. Of those, nine face possible sanctions that could at least complicate, if not end, their legal careers.

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But impacted attorneys claim they are being targeted with regressive and harsh tactics that recall those used against Black civil rights litigators battling racist laws in the 1950s and 60s. Black lawyers in the United States faced rampant discrimination during the Civil Rights Movement.

Last year, the Alabama State Bar Association inducted the late attorney Arthur Madison into its Hall of Fame for his work registering Black voters, including Rosa Parks. But that work cost him his career. Despite the honor, Madison remains disbarred in the state. His family continues to advocate for the state to restore his license posthumously.

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More at link:
https://www.advocate.com/law/alabama-judge-shopping