[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 87 (Monday, May 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S3766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Judicial Conference

  Madam President, now on judge shopping, today was supposed to be a 
significant day for gun safety in America. Today was supposed to be the 
day new rules closing loopholes on background checks went into effect--
rules that Democrats and Republicans worked on together when we passed 
the bipartisan gun safety bill 2 years ago.
  But surprise, surprise, MAGA radicals have put background check 
reforms on ice by going to their favorite judge in the entire country, 
in the Northern District of Texas, and getting him to rubberstamp a 
nationwide injunction.
  Today's ridiculous injunction is, yet again, another consequence of 
judge shopping, that deeply unfair practice where radicals virtually 
guarantee favorable outcomes in court by going to a sympathetic judge 
of their choice. I say ``judge'' in this case because there is only one 
judge sitting in that district. They know when they go to court, they 
are getting him to hear the case.
  Judge shopping jaundices our legal system like few other abuses do. 
There is no conceivable definition of ``justice'' where hard-right 
litigants can pull a fast one on the will of the American people by 
getting extremist judges they align with to rubberstamp their agenda.
  Congress should fix this abuse soon with appropriate legislation. The 
Constitution clearly allows Congress to exercise oversight of the 
courts when appropriate. Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court--
hardly a liberal--has acknowledged that judge shopping is a problem 
that ought to be addressed.
  A few weeks ago, I led a group of 40 Senators in introducing a bill 
that would curtail judge shopping and restore fairness to the judicial 
system. I hope both sides can work together on this bill to ensure that 
nobody gets an unfair advantage in a court of law, simply based on a 
judge's personal ideological preferences.
  We will continue weighing legislative options to ensure that the 
Federal judiciary remains committed to equal justice under law. Judge 
shopping moves us away from that noble ideal in a very big way.