Senator Schmitt Introduces the BOASBERG Act to Block Judicial Shopping

Schmitt’s Bill Mandates Courts to Randomly Assign Cases, Promoting Impartiality U.S. SENATE — Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) introduced the Blocking Overt Attempts at Shopping By Enforcing Randomization Guidelines ( BOASBERG) Act to combat judicial bias by requiring courts to implement processes that randomly assign cases among judges at both the district and circuit level. Enforcing random case assignment will promote confidence in judicial impartiality and help prevent erroneous rulings. “Judge Boasberg is the poster child for a rogue judge and exposed serious loopholes in our judicial system. Randomly assigning cases among judges ensures the American people can have confidence in the impartiality of our courts. The BOASBERG Act prevents Judges from forcing their way onto cases and is an important piece of court transparency legislation that will help restore the American people’s confidence in our judiciary,” said Senator Schmitt . The BOASBERG Act requires all district courts to randomly assign civil cases to ensure that no party, attorney, or judge can select or influence the assignment of a case to a particular judge. The bill also requires Circuit Court of Appeals panels to be assigned at random, stopping improper panel rigging that Senator Schmitt has investigated this Congress. The bill requires cases to be reassigned to a new district judge if the Supreme Court overturns the original district judge’s ruling. The legislation also requires courts to publicly disclose their randomization procedures. Read the bill HERE. ###