CV NEWSFEED // A group of LGBTQ rights attorneys currently face the prospect of sanctions after a three-judge panel determined they engaged in “judge shopping” in an attempt to secure a favorable outcome in a case challenging Alabama’s “gender affirming care” ban.
According to a March 20 Reuters report, 11 attorneys belonging to major LGBTQ rights groups and legal advocacy organizations have been accused of attempting to “circumvent the random case assignment procedures” for the US District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama.
The 50-page report claims the lawyers dropped two separate cases related to “gender affirming care” laws passed in April 2022, only to refile shortly after—allegedly in order to secure a judge who would view their case more sympathetically than the Trump-appointed US District Judge Liles Burke who was set to hear their case.
According to Reuters, the lawyers involved in the judge-shopping scheme include Carl Charles, an LGBTQ rights activist, James Essecks of the American Civil Liberties Union, Jenniver Levi of Glaad, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Shannon Minter and Asaf Orr. “Others worked at three law firms who litigated the cases pro bono,” the report noted, listing attorneys Melody Eagan, Jeffery Doss, Michael Shortnacy, and Kathleen Hartnett.
The report states that the ACLU attempted to secure US District Judge Myron Thompson “by marking [their case] as ‘related’ to a closed 2018 case in which he had ruled in favor of transgender rights.”
However, this case was eventually transferred to Burke, along with another similar case being overseen by ACLU and other LGBTQ groups, causing the lawyers to “panic” and voluntarily dismiss their cases. However, both teams went on to form a co-counsel with new plaintiffs and filed a new case, Boe v. Marshall, US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, which was once again assigned to Burke.
Burke has demanded that the attorneys appear at a set of hearings in May “to show cause why they should not be sanctioned.”
