Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

A twist! Texas et al.'s lawsuit was randomly assigned to Chief Judge Barbara Lynn, one of just two judges on NDTX appointed by a Dem.

Texas then belatedly claimed the case was "related" to the MPP case in an attempt to get reassigned to Kascmaryk—very likely a losing argument.

https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1487128975176761344

DOJ filed a brief calling Texas's request to transfer the CAM case to Kascmaryk by "relating" it to the MPP case an "obvious attempt at circumventing the random case assignment rules."

Before Texas even responded, Judge Lynn said she'd issue a decision.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Having the case assigned to Judge Lynn means Texas is far less likely to succeed in blocking the CAM program, a good result given that the program has now operated under three different administrations and helps protect children from the dangerous journey to the US.

Also, wow, Texas *really* got unlucky (and we got lucky). Texas filed in the Northern District of Texas's Amarillo Division, where they had fully a 95% chance to get Judge Kascmaryk.

So basically they rolled a D20 and it came up a 1—critical failure. txnd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/…

If it wasn't for Chief Judge Lynn assigning 1 in 20 civil cases filed in Amarillo to herself, Texas's effort to hand-pick Judge Kascmaryk for their case would have succeeded.

Ccing @steve_vladeck, who's been championing changes to prevent people from this kind of forum-shopping.