1. Home
2. Daily News
3. Federal judge sanctions 3 LGBTQ rights lawyers…

Judiciary

Federal judge sanctions 3 LGBTQ rights lawyers for ‘malignant practice’ of ‘judge shopping’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 3, 2025, 9:44 am CST

A federal judge in Alabama has sanctioned three lawyers for trying to get their cases challenging an Alabama transgender law assigned to a judge deemed more hospitable to their arguments.

U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke of the Northern District of Alabama publicly reprimanded three lawyers who dropped two lawsuits challenging a ban on gender-affirming care for minors after the cases ended up before Burke. An appointee of President Donald Trump in his first term, Burke is sitting by designation in the Middle District of Alabama.

Burke also disqualified two of the lawyers, Melody Eagan and Jeffrey Doss of Lightfoot Franklin & White, from working on the case and ordered the third lawyer, Carl Charles of Lambda Legal, to pay a $5,000 fine.

Reuters and Law360 have coverage, while the Volokh Conspiracy noted the Feb. 25 opinion.

“This case requires the court to consider a malignant practice that threatens the orderly administration of justice: judge shopping,” Burke wrote.

After the cases were assigned to Burke, “one team abandoned the litigation altogether, while the other dropped everything, regrouped, mustered new plaintiffs and filed suit in another federal district court for the express purpose of manipulating the courts’ random case-assignment procedures to avoid the risk of an unfavorable judgment from this court,” Burke wrote.

The filing of the new case in a neighboring district “was not just a strategic litigation decision; it was a calculated effort to subvert the rule of law,” Burke wrote.

Charles was not on the legal team that filed the new suit in the neighboring district. The new case was reassigned to Burke, who issued emergency injunctive relief.

“Counsels’ misguided fears of prejudice were for naught,” Burke observed.

According to Law360, the Alabama litigation has been paused while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar ban on transgender care for minors in Tennessee.

Burke had initially asked 11 lead attorneys working on the cases to show cause why they shouldn’t be sanctioned for “judge shopping.” He settled on sanctions for three of them after finding that they “refused to accept responsibility or apologize sincerely for their actions” and “deflected responsibility for their unabashed misconduct.”

Burke also accused Charles of lying under oath about a call to the chambers of a desired judge. Charles had sought to get his case assigned to the judge, an appointee of former President Jimmy Carter, by marking it as related to a previous case in which the judge ruled for transgender plaintiffs in a challenge to Alabama’s policy regarding sex changes on driver’s licenses.

Burke referred Charles to federal prosecutors for possible investigation and referred all three lawyers to legal ethics regulators. Charles has denied any lies or intentional misrepresentations.

All three lawyers will also have to give copies of the reprimand to their clients, the opposing counsel and the judges in their cases, as well as to members of their law firms.

Reuters and Law360 spoke with firms for the three lawyers.

Lambda Legal told Law360 that it “believes that the court’s findings are mistaken, and that [Charles] will be fully vindicated in further proceedings.”

Charles “acted in accordance with the letter and spirit of the rules governing the practice of law in the state of Alabama, including the rules of professional responsibility,” Lambda Legal told Reuters. “We stand firmly behind him.”

Lightfoot Franklin & White, which handled the case pro bono, told Reuters that it “stands by these fine lawyers.”

“We respectfully disagree with the conclusions in the order and are evaluating our options,” the law firm told Law360.

See also:

‘Judge shopping’ in federal courts should end, House urges

Venue Is Not a Continental Breakfast’: Judge transfers case as district declares it won’t adopt anti-‘judge shopping’ policy

Federal judge warns law firm that ‘judge shopping ain’t a thing here’

Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.