Fair Courts Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3652 To address the rising trend of venue-shopping in Federal courts. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 24, 2023 Ms. ROSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To address the rising trend of venue-shopping in Federal courts. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Courts Act of 4 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. REINSTATING 3-JUDGE REQUIREMENT FOR SUITS 6 SEEKING NATIONWIDE RELIEF. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 155 of title 28, United 8 States Code, is amended by inserting before section 2283 9 the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3652.IH H3652 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3652 IH ‘‘§ 2282. Nationwide relief; three-judge court required 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘nation- 2 wide relief’ means— 3 ‘‘(1) an interlocutory or permanent injunction 4 restraining the Federal Government or a Federal of- 5 ficer with respect to any person other than the plain- 6 tiff; 7 ‘‘(2) any order that vacates a Federal regula- 8 tion on a nationwide basis; and 9 ‘‘(3) a stay of execution of a judgment granting 10 relief described in paragraph (1) or (2). 11 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A court of the United 13 States or judge thereof may not grant any form of 14 nationwide relief unless the application therefor is 15 heard and determined by a district court of 3 judges 16 under section 2284. 17 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 18 apply to the Supreme Court of the United States or 19 a court of appeals of the United States. 20 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 21 this section shall be construed to expand or limit the 22 forms of relief that the courts of the United States 23 may grant.’’. 24 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 25 The table of sections for chapter 155 of title 28, United 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3652.IH H3652 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3652 IH States Code, is amended by inserting before the item relat- 1 ing to section 2283 the following: 2 ‘‘2282. Nationwide relief; three-judge court required.’’. SEC. 3. RANDOM ASSIGNMENT OF CASES. 3 (a) DIVISION OF BUSINESS AMONG DISTRICT 4 JUDGES.—Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, is 5 amended— 6 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub- 7 section (c); and 8 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(b) RANDOM ASSIGNMENT OF CASES.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In establishing rules for 12 the division of business among district judges, a dis- 13 trict court shall ensure that the probability that an 14 action, suit, or proceeding is assigned to any par- 15 ticular judge does not exceed 25 percent. 16 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 17 apply to— 18 ‘‘(A) a criminal proceeding; 19 ‘‘(B) an action, suit, or proceeding that is 20 related to another action, suit, or proceeding 21 pending before a judge of the district court; 22 ‘‘(C) an application for a writ of habeas 23 corpus under section 2242 or any related pro- 24 ceeding; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3652.IH H3652 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3652 IH ‘‘(D) a motion to vacate, set aside, or cor- 1 rect a sentence under section 2252 or any re- 2 lated proceeding. 3 ‘‘(3) LOW-POPULATION DISTRICTS.— 4 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 5 term ‘low-population district’ means a district 6 that does not have enough judges to ensure 7 that the probability that an action, suit, or pro- 8 ceeding is assigned to any particular judge does 9 not exceed 25 percent, as required under para- 10 graph (1). 11 ‘‘(B) USE OF JUDGES FROM ADJACENT 12 DISTRICTS.—The chief judge of the circuit in 13 which a low-population district is located may 14 assign 1 or more judges from 1 or more dis- 15 tricts that are adjacent to, and in the same 16 State as, the low-population district to serve in 17 the low-population district as necessary to en- 18 sure that the probability that an action, suit, or 19 proceeding is assigned to any particular judge 20 does not exceed 25 percent, as required under 21 paragraph (1). 22 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para- 23 graph (1), if there are no adjacent districts 24 within the same State as a low-population dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3652.IH H3652 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3652 IH trict, the probability that an action, suit, or 1 proceeding is assigned to any particular judge 2 in the low-population district may not be great- 3 er than the percentage obtained by dividing the 4 number 1 by the number of judges within the 5 low-population district.’’. 6 (b) THREE-JUDGE COURTS.—Section 2284(b)(1) of 7 title 28, United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘designate 9 two’’ and inserting ‘‘randomly designate three’’; and 10 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘, and 11 the judge to whom the request was presented,’’. 12 SEC. 4. PUBLICATION OF DIVISION ORDERS. 13 Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, as 14 amended by section 3, is amended by adding at the end 15 the following: 16 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DIVISION ORDERS.—A district 17 court shall publish any order for the division of business 18 among district judges with other standing orders on the 19 website of the district.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3652.IH H3652 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB