S. 4096 – End Judge Shopping Act

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 3:48 PM UTC

The End Judge Shopping Act amends the federal courts code to require that certain civil lawsuits challenging the constitutionality or legality of federal or state laws be assigned to district judges at random. The goal is to stop parties from picking judges they think will be favorable. It applies to cases seeking declaratory, injunctive, or other equitable relief that target nationwide federal statutes or statewide state statutes. The change affects litigants filing these challenges and the district judges who will receive the cases.

Key Provisions

Adds a new subsection to 28 U.S.C. §137 that mandates random assignment of civil actions seeking declaratory, injunctive, or equitable relief challenging the constitutionality or lawfulness of a federal law applied nationwide or a state law applied statewide.
Defines “law” in this context to include rules, regulations, policies, and orders issued by executive branch or state/federal agencies.

Legislative Activity

Stay on top of the latest movement without scrolling through every action

1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S2710)

Judiciary Committee

April 10, 2024

View full timeline

SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

April 10, 2024

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S2710)

Judiciary Committee

April 10, 2024

Floor Debate

2 members

What members said about S. 4096 on the floor

1 Republican1 Democrat

Sen. Mitch McConnellR-KY · Apr 10, 2024

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Sen. Charles E. SchumerD-NY · Apr 10, 2024

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Sen. Charles E. SchumerD-NY · Apr 10, 2024

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

Reading Mode

Raw Text PDF XML

Introduced in SenateIssued April 10, 2024

II

118th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 4096

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 10, 2024

Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Markey, Mr. Reed, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Butler, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Warren, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Smith, Mr. Booker, Mr. Welch, Mr. Warner, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. King, Mr. Carper, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Rosen, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Peters, Mr. Coons, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Luján, and Mr. Casey) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the random assignment of certain cases in the district courts of the United States.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the End Judge Shopping Act.

2.

Division of business among district judges

Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

(c)

Random assignment of other cases

(1)

Definition

In this subsection, the term law includes, with respect to an executive branch or a State or Federal agency, a rule, a regulation, a policy, and an order.

(2)

Random assignment

Any civil action brought for declaratory, injunctive, or other equitable relief seeking (whether facially or as-applied) to challenge the constitutionality or lawfulness of, or to bar, restrain, vacate, set aside, or mandate the enforcement of, any provision of a Federal law on a nationwide basis, or any provision of a State law on a statewide basis in that State, shall be randomly assigned to a judge of the district court in which the civil action is filed.

.