Dueling Bills Highlight Partisan Divide Over ‘Judge Shopping’

Director Robert Niemeier was featured in “Dueling Bills Highlight Partisan Divide Over ‘Judge Shopping’,”  published by Law360.  As reported by Law360, “Dueling proposals to limit so-called judge shopping were unveiled by Senate party leaders last week, sparking optimism that Congress will rein in plaintiffs’ ability to bring cases before judges they think will be friendly to their views, while others raised questions about the proposals’ feasibility. The bills were introduced about a month after the Judicial Conference announced it had updated a policy on random case assignments to make sure that litigants can’t pick the judge they want by going to a one-judge division of a district court. The bid to restrain the politically charged practice was largely praised by Democrats but faced pushback from Republicans.”

The article goes on to note, ‘Robert Niemeier, a director in Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC trial and appellate practice group, who focuses on patent litigation, told Law360 on Monday this is an issue that has been raised for a while by lawmakers and others in the intellectual property context, including by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Schumer’s bill wouldn’t have much impact on patent cases, but Niemeier believes McConnell’s bill would actually expand the venue options for patent cases, which he thinks is at odds with the intent of the bill. Overall, Niemeier said there is value in these discussions because the fact that the leaders of both parties in the Senate are looking at it could mean there will be a compromise.”