5th circuit on display as judge engages in personal attacks and slams table against professor over judge shopping

Georgetown University Law Professor Steve Vladeck studies, among other subjects, “judge-shopping,” the process of filing lawsuits in single-judge divisions — typically to obtain sweeping national injunctions from a known-to-be friendly court.

On Thursday, during a forum entitled “The Continued Independence of the Judiciary,” the law professor was the target of criticism by Circuit Judge Edith H. Jones, beginning with a bit of a send-off, an apparent reference to Vladeck’s former position at the University of Texas.

At one point, during the back-and-forth, Vladeck sarcastically thanked the judge for proving his point “about how we’re shouting past each other and not engaging on substance.”

“I think it’s rather unfortunate what’s happened this afternoon,” Vladeck said in response to Jones’ criticisms. “And I wish that it weren’t so. But I also think that it says a lot about where we are that instead of having a conversation about whether this is a good thing or not, we decide to turn this into a ‘Can I put words into your mouth that make you look bad?’ And it seems like that’s not the kind of debates that I thought the Federalist Society was interested in sponsoring, and I’m disappointed it’s the conversation we’ve had today.”

https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/its-very-unsavory-5th-circuit-judge-brutally-criticizes-law-professor-for-judge-shopping-research-says-his-comments-are-attacks-on-the-rule-of-law/

According to Edith Jones, just talking about judge shopping is why Mattthew Kacsmaryk (the fifth circuit judge who tried to suspend the FDA's approval of mifepristone) needs protection. Oooh, scary. Better not talk about judge shopping then.