Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Fair Courts Act of 2023”.
Fair Courts Act of 2023
A BILL
To address the rising trend of venue-shopping in Federal courts.
Sec. 2 Reinstating 3-judge requirement for suits seeking nationwide relief
In general— Chapter 155 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting before section 2283 the following:
“2282. Nationwide relief; three-judge court required
“(a) Definition—In this section, the term nationwide relief means—
“(1) an interlocutory or permanent injunction restraining the Federal Government or a Federal officer with respect to any person other than the plaintiff;
“(2) any order that vacates a Federal regulation on a nationwide basis; and
“(3) a stay of execution of a judgment granting relief described in paragraph (1) or (2).
“(b) Requirement
“(1) In general—A court of the United States or judge thereof may not grant any form of nationwide relief unless the application therefor is heard and determined by a district court of 3 judges under section 2284.
“(2) Exceptions—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the Supreme Court of the United States or a court of appeals of the United States.
“(3) Rule of construction—Nothing in this section shall be construed to expand or limit the forms of relief that the courts of the United States may grant.”
Technical and conforming amendment— The table of sections for chapter 155 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the item relating to section 2283 the following:
Sec. 3 Random assignment of cases
Division of business among district judges— Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—
by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
“(b) Random assignment of cases
“(1) In general—In establishing rules for the division of business among district judges, a district court shall ensure that the probability that an action, suit, or proceeding is assigned to any particular judge does not exceed 25 percent.
“(2) Exceptions—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
“(A) a criminal proceeding;
“(B) an action, suit, or proceeding that is related to another action, suit, or proceeding pending before a judge of the district court;
“(C) an application for a writ of habeas corpus under section 2242 or any related proceeding; or
“(D) a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct a sentence under section 2252 or any related proceeding.
“(3) Low-population districts
“(A) Definition—In this paragraph, the term low-population district means a district that does not have enough judges to ensure that the probability that an action, suit, or proceeding is assigned to any particular judge does not exceed 25 percent, as required under paragraph (1).
“(B) Use of judges from adjacent districts—The chief judge of the circuit in which a low-population district is located may assign 1 or more judges from 1 or more districts that are adjacent to, and in the same State as, the low-population district to serve in the low-population district as necessary to ensure that the probability that an action, suit, or proceeding is assigned to any particular judge does not exceed 25 percent, as required under paragraph (1).
“(C) Exception—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if there are no adjacent districts within the same State as a low-population district, the probability that an action, suit, or proceeding is assigned to any particular judge in the low-population district may not be greater than the percentage obtained by dividing the number 1 by the number of judges within the low-population district.”
Three-Judge courts— Section 2284(b)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is amended—
in the first sentence, by striking “designate two” and inserting “randomly designate three”; and
in the second sentence, by striking “, and the judge to whom the request was presented,”.
Sec. 4 Publication of division orders
Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, as amended by section 3, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(d) Publication of division orders—A district court shall publish any order for the division of business among district judges with other standing orders on the website of the district.”