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On March 12, 2024, the Judicial Conference of the United States  announced new guidance  applying to case assignments in federal district courts, with the intent to curb “judge-shopping” by limiting litigants’ ability to pre-select a specific judge by filing in a division where only a single judge sits. Officially titled  Guidance for Civil Case Assignments in District Courts , the new guidance recommends that courts randomly assign certain civil actions to any judge within a district rather than only the judge(s) in the division where the case is filed.

Under the guidance, district courts are encouraged to apply district-wide assignment to all civil actions that seek to bar or mandate statewide enforcement of a state law or the nationwide enforcement federal law, including a rule, regulation, policy, or order of the executive branch, a state agency, or a federal agency. The guidance includes all civil actions seeking declaratory judgment and/or any form of injunctive relief, but it does not currently apply to criminal and bankruptcy cases. 

In recent years, concerns about litigants intentionally selecting preferred judges based on their perceived leanings, abilities, or positions on legal issues that could have a nationwide impact have gained national prominence as litigants on divisive issues such as abortion medication challenges, environmental issues, and immigration policies have commenced their actions in specific single-judge divisions. 

It is currently unclear how district courts across the United States will interpret and implement the guidance, if at all. This guidance does not have the force of law as do general rules of practice and procedure or rules of evidence that have been passed pursuant to the rulemaking function under the Rules Enabling Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2071-2077. The guidance requests that courts “consider incorporating case assignment practices into rules and orders as opposed to internal plans or policies,” to promote transparency and public confidence in the case assignment process. Practically speaking, any such changes will likely only significantly impact divisions where only a single judge sits. Moreover, district courts opting to adopt measures pursuant to the guidance, and disclose their revised case assignment policies, will need time to update their official rules and orders.

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Spin of Wheel May Determine Judge in 9/11 Case

By Benjamin Weiser

• Nov. 27, 2009

At first glance, the wooden wheel looks as if it might have been used to call out bingo numbers in a church fund-raiser. But sometime soon, a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan could be spinning the wheel in open court, unlocking a small door on one of its sides, and pulling out a sealed envelope containing the name of a judge.

That judge could well be charged with overseeing the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. And that judge will have to consider questions as procedural as trial dates and as controversial and delicate as evidence gained through torture.

The case could last years, and the judge who gets it will most likely be assigned security around the clock — for his or her lifetime.

When Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced this month that the Obama administration would seek to have Mr. Mohammed and the others tried in civilian court in New York, he said that he was confident that “whatever judge is assigned to this case will maintain the dignity of the proceedings” and that the defendants would get a fair trial.

For the moment, it is unclear whether the wheel will even be spun. Prosecutors could seek an indictment that would result in the case going to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is presiding in the case of another suspected terrorist that is raising issues similar to those that could arise in the Sept. 11 matter.

The question of who will preside over the case has become the subject of speculation in the chambers of judges and in the corridors of federal court on Pearl Street.

“This entire case coming to New York is to demonstrate to the world that the system works — and part of that system is the wheel,” said Donna R. Newman, a lawyer whose clients have included Jose Padilla, the Brooklyn-born convert to Islam who was once designated as an enemy combatant (and was later convicted of conspiracy in federal court).

Ronald L. Kuby, another lawyer whose clients have included terrorism defendants over the years, said: “As corny as it was watching that wooden bingo drum be spun, it did create a sense of impartiality. It would be a good thing in this case.”

There are actually three wheels — labeled A, B, and C — that are used to assign most criminal cases. They sit in a row by the magistrate judge on the fifth floor of the courthouse.

Wheel A is used for short trials; B for trials that are expected to last 6 to 20 days, and C for trials estimated to exceed 20 days.

A judge who receives the Sept. 11 case may recuse him- or herself for a variety of reasons. The case would then be reassigned. In a recent case in Brooklyn federal court, for example, which uses a computer to assign cases randomly, it took four tries to assign a case involving a man charged in a Qaeda plot to set off bombs in the United States.

The court’s chief judge, Raymond J. Dearie, who finally got the case, said that one judge assigned to the case was on senior status and was not supposed to be on the list of judges taking cases. A second judge had an irreconcilable conflict of interest that prevented her from sitting. And a third judge recused herself without explanation.

“Take my word for it,” Judge Dearie said, “every judge in the courthouse would have liked to have had this case, fully realizing it’s going to be a real burden.”

In Manhattan federal court, there are more than 20 active judges, along with a few on senior status (a sort of semiretirement), who appear to be eligible to receive the Sept. 11 case.

Some have raised the question of whether a judge could volunteer for the Sept. 11 case. Under the court’s rules, a judge could offer to take the case only after it was randomly assigned to another judge. Mr. Kuby believes that would be inadvisable, saying, “Any judge who wants it should not have it.”

“The only judge who would want this case is a judge who wants to stamp his or her mark on history,” he said, adding, “And the desire to do that tends not to make for the best judging.”

If the wheel is not used, the Sept. 11 case could end up going before Judge Kaplan.

Lawyers who have been mulling over this possibility presented the following premise: the judge has been handling the case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a suspected terrorist charged with conspiring in the 1998 bombings of American Embassies in Africa. Like the Sept. 11 defendants, Mr. Ghailani spent time in the C.I.A.’s secret prisons and at Guantánamo.

But it is less well known that Mr. Ghailani is also one of nearly two dozen defendants, including Osama bin Laden, who were charged in a broad indictment with conspiring to kill Americans “anywhere in the world, including in the United States.”

That indictment is also before Judge Kaplan.

Prosecutors could bring a superseding version of that indictment, in which they charge the Sept. 11 plot as part of Mr. bin Laden’s global conspiracy to kill Americans.

“The government certainly has arguments that a superseding indictment and assignment to Judge Kaplan is appropriate,” said Michael G. McGovern, a former terrorism prosecutor in Manhattan.

He added that prosecutors could validly say: “We indicted bin Laden. He’s the leader of this conspiracy. K. S. M. is the field general who carried it out.”

Prosecutors had no comment.

In yet another possibility, prosecutors would try Mr. Mohammed on a 1990s-era indictment in the so-called Bojinka plot to bomb American jetliners as they crossed the Pacific. Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy presided in a 1996 trial in which three others were convicted.

But Mr. Holder’s recent comments make that seem unlikely. The attorney general said the Sept. 11 defendants would be “charged for what we believe they did, and that is to mastermind and carry out the 9/11 attacks.”

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Guidance for Civil Case Assignment in District Courts

Conference Acts to Promote Random Case Assignment

All I can say is:

ABOUT ■■■■■■■ TIME.

This should make it a lot harder for litigants of either political stripe to shop a case to a preferred Judge.

That’s good IMO…but I can’t help wondering why now? 30 years later.

There has been a lot of pressure by Congress lately for the Judicial Conference to do this.

Chief Justice Roberts in his 2021 end of year report also proposed doing this, but like any bureaucracy, it takes the Judicial Conference several years to move its wheels.

30 years when it was first purposed?

“Since 1995, the Judicial Conference has strongly supported the random assignment of cases and the notion that all district judges remain generalists,” said Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., secretary of the Conference. “The random case-assignment policy deters judge-shopping and the assignment of cases based on the perceived merits or abilities of a particular judge. It promotes the impartiality of proceedings and bolsters public confidence in the federal Judiciary.”

As I said, the wheels turn extremely slowly. I think it was the recent Congressional pressure that finally forced their hand.

Maybe…or now they have ulterior motives.

…and it applies to Trump and everyone else except Jack Smith, libs and Democrats. They get to choose DC, NYC and Fulton County and that’s how our two-tier system works but remember…it doesn’t go into effect unless Trump is elected.

Everything is a conspiracy against Trump.

just ask David Dennison and John Barron

LOL, they are always my go to sources to get the real skinny on Trump.

No man just where the FBI purposefully alters emails to mean the opposite of what was actually written so that they can dupe FISA court judges for FISA warrants. Then again the FBI can use dossiers paid for by Hillary and the DNC that they know is a lie but again use it to get a FISA warrant. If that doesn’t work, they’ll motivate a Russian collusion narrative to then get an investigation started where the scope is altered to outside of that and include “anything they find”. If that doesn’t work, impeachment 1, impeachment 2. Then if they don’t work they’ll start bull feces investigations in Democrat strongholds even if the AG is corrupt and uses the money for personal travel and such or how about another campaign on weaponizing the system to go after Trump using a corrupt judge. If that doesn’t work, then it’s a DC jury where 95% of the jury pool was against Trump. Then if that doesn’t work…

First of all, much of the abuse doesn’t involve Trump.

Such as Alan Albright, though being only 1 of 1,000+ United States District Judges, being able to garner fully 1/4 of the total IP caseload of the United States in his courtroom.

They don’t do anything without some sort of motive behind it.

Bam…hammer meet nail.

Ever . This is how Super Powers rule.

BTW, Republican plaintiffs odds are still pretty ■■■■■■■ good in the Northern District of Texas, even if they can’t get Kacsmaryk.

12 authorized Judgeships.

1 vacant. 1 appointed by Clinton 4 appointed by G.W. Bush 6 appointed by Trump

Additionally 5 active senior judges, including 3 Reagan, 1 G.H.W. Bush and 1 Clinton.

14 Republican appointees to 2 Democratic appointees.

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Trump Lawyer Cases Show 2020 Election Punishments Come Slowly

By Sam Skolnik

Mounting sanctions cases against some of Donald Trump’s 2020 election lawyers show the legal establishment is moving to punish abuses tied to the contest, even as the wheels turn slowly.

At least three attorneys—Rudolph Giuliani, John Eastman, and Kenneth Chesebro—have had law licenses suspended. They’re part of a group dragging out the process in multiple states, with allies arguing they are the victims of politically motivated witch hunts.

Ethics experts cheer on the reckoning. “If you’re going to rob a bank with a gun, you don’t need a lawyer,” said Kathleen Clark, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “But fraudsters often need and often use lawyers to commit their fraud.”

The collection of disciplinary actions pending against Trump’s election lawyers—much like the 2020 election itself—have no modern precedent. The legal profession is sorting out the cases even as it girds itself for a rematch of the presidential contenders from four years ago.

Just as the 1970s Watergate scandal put a spotlight on government and legal ethics, the 2020 election is testing the legal establishment’s ability to discipline wayward attorneys, said Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota Law School professor.

“These lawyers’ actions have brought discredit to the bar, and the bar has a role in reining that in,” Painter said. “There’s a great concern that our democracy was in peril and that these lawyers went way overboard.”

The disciplinary process has taken too long in some cases, such as those for Jeffrey Clark and Eastman, Kathleen Clark said. “The fact that it’s taken four years suggests current structures are not up to the task,” Clark said.

Jim Robenalt, a Thompson Hine partner who teaches legal education courses with Watergate whistleblower John Dean, said “there is no question that the 2020 election woke up the bar associations in some places.” But he noted the disparity between New York bar officials, who speedily suspended Giuliani’s law license, and a Texas trial court that dismissed a complaint that Sidney Powell violated ethics rules.

New York Law School Professor Rebecca Roiphe, who was blocked from being a First Amendment witness for Eastman, warned that disbarment proceedings can become political fodder.

It can be hard to “articulate a neutral principle” that separates the behavior of Trump’s election lawyers “from widely accepted behavior by other lawyers,” Roiphe said. “These disciplinary hearings open themselves up to accusations that they have been weaponized to serve a political end.”

Here’s a rundown of some of the most notable cases state lawyer organizations and courts are pursuing:

Jeffrey Clark

A DC Bar committee on April 4 preliminarily found Clark violated at least one ethics rule by lying about alleged election fraud. The panel will decide as early as next month before sending the matter to the Board on Professional Responsibility. The case then goes to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

The bar’s DC disciplinary counsel, Hamilton “Phil” Fox, is seeking Clark’s disbarment. The bar bodies and the appeals court could decide on lesser sanctions, such as a written warning.

John Eastman

A California State Bar Court judge on March 27 said Eastman should be disbarred for knowingly making false statements that election irregularities cost Trump the 2020 race.

The bar court’s appellate division will review the finding, and the state’s highest court will ultimately decide. Eastman has said he could seek US Supreme Court review.

Though Eastman has yet to be disbarred, he is ineligible to practice law in California, according to his online law license . Eastman challenged his “inactive” law license status on April 3. The State Bar argued on April 10 that Eastman needs to be sidelined because he has shown he is willing “to misrepresent facts, violate the law, and pursue frivolous claims on behalf of clients.”

Rudy Giuliani

New York’s Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in June 2021 temporarily suspended Giuliani’s law license for making false, misleading statements about the election. A Democratic state senator had filed a complaint with the state’s Attorney Grievance Committee, which sought the suspension.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals followed, temporarily suspending Giuliani’s license in July 2021.

A DC Bar committee in July 2023 recommended Guliani’s disbarment for his failed election challenge in Pennsylvania. The bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility held a hearing in November. The board’s report could be issued at any time.

After the board makes its finding, the case goes to the DC Court of Appeals.

Sidney Powell

The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission in May 2023 filed a complaint claiming Powell and other lawyers brought frivolous election challenges in the state. A hearing panel of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board in December rejected Powell’s arguments that the board lacks jurisdiction.

In 2021, a US district judge in Detroit fined Powell and other attorneys more than $175,000 in 2021 for wasting resources by filing a lawsuit to overturn the election result in Michigan. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit largely upheld the sanctions in 2023, and the US Supreme Court in February declined to hear a challenge of the appeals court decision.

In Texas, the Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline last year said it is taking its ethics case against Powell to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas. A federal judge in Texas in February 2023 threw out discipline charges that alleged Powell had violated legal ethics rules.

Jenna Ellis

In March 2023, a Colorado judge censured Ellis, who once said she was part of an “elite strike force” fighting for Trump. The judge declined to disbar Ellis for her role in making 10 false claims about the 2020 election.

Kenneth Chesebro

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court as of March 13 temporarily suspended the law license of Chesebro, an architect, along with Eastman, of a plan to create elector slates in six states. Chesebro is also unable to practice law in California, at least on an interim basis, according to his state bar online record .

Julia Haller, Brandon Johnson, Lawrence Joseph

In DC, The bar’s disciplinary counsel, Fox, on Jan. 9 filed claims against Haller, Johnson and Joseph.

He alleged that Haller and Johnson filed suits against election offices and officials in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona seeking to overturn the election results. Fox claimed that Joseph, in a suit he filed in Texas against former Vice President Mike Pence, made claims about a “competing slate” of electors in Arizona that “had no factual basis.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Skolnik in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Hughes at [email protected] ;

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Brazilian woman arrested after taking corpse to sign bank loan: ‘She knew he was dead’

Shock in Brazil after woman is arrested and charged with violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud

When Érika de Souza Vieira wheeled her lethargic-looking uncle into a Brazilian bank, clerks quickly sensed something was amiss.

“I don’t think he’s well. He doesn’t look well at all,” remarked one distrustful employee as Vieira tried to get her elderly relative to sign off on a 17,000 reais ($3,250) loan.

Paulo Roberto Braga was indeed indisposed. In fact, the 68-year-old appears to have been dead.

Shortly after entering the lender in Rio late on Tuesday with her late uncle, Vieira was arrested and charged with violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud, according to the Rio newspaper O Dia .

“She knew he was dead … he had been dead for at least two hours,” the investigating officer, Fábio Luiz Souza, told the breakfast news program Bom Dia Rio on Wednesday.

“I have never come across a story like this in 22 years [as a cop],” added Souza, who said visible signs of livor mortis left no doubt as to Braga’s state.

Footage of Vieira’s surreal and macabre alleged attempt to cash in on her relative’s corpse has gone viral on social media, with Brazilians voicing stupefaction at the scene.

At one point in the images – which bank workers began filming after smelling a rat – one suspicious employee comments on Braga’s pallid complexion. “That’s just what he’s like,” Vieira replies, before trying to place a pen in his limp hand once again.

Brazilian journalists shared their viewers’ bewilderment.

“It is just unbelievable. It seems like a wind-up, but this is serious,” the news presenter Leilane Neubarth exclaimed as she told viewers about the scandal on the network GloboNews. “She has gone into the bank with a cadaver – and has tried to get money with a human being who is dead.”

Another journalist, Camila Bomfim, was similarly stunned. “This is the last straw … This goes beyond all limits because there can be no doubt … about the difference between a living person and a dead person,” Bomfim said.

Ana Carla de Souza Correa, a lawyer representing Vieira, insisted it was not. “The facts did not occur as has been narrated. Paulo was alive when he arrived at the bank,” Correa told reporters, claiming there were witnesses who could prove that. “All of this will be cleared up,” the lawyer added . “We believe in Érika’s innocence.”

The police chief Souza said he was also investigating if Vieira was in fact the deceased man’s niece. “Anyone who sees that [footage] can see the person was dead,” he said.

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