Wyoming AG says pulling retired judge into abortion case amounts to judge shopping

Trying to convince a retired judge to add a fresh challenge against Wyoming’s newest abortion ban into a case that’s been ongoing for a year amounts to “judge shopping,” a Wyoming Attorney General’s deputy argued Thursday. A hearing is set for March 30.

The pro-choice coalition that has amassed court wins for nearly four years challenged the new Human Heartbeat Act almost as soon as Gov. Mark Gordon signed it into law. The law criminalizes abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected—about six weeks—with a safety net saying that if it’s blocked in court, abortions become illegal only after the point of viability.

But the coalition brought this challenge in a unique fashion: asking retired Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell to hear the arguments against the new ban as part of a court challenge against lesser restrictions that has been ongoing for a year. Lumping the two cases together will create judicial economy and keep from serializing litigation on the same topic, the coalition argued earlier this month.

Actually, it amounts to “judge shopping,” Deputy Attorney General John Woykovsky countered Thursday. “Judge shopping is recognized as ‘particularly pernicious,'” he wrote. “The Court should deny Plaintiffs’ motion because it amounts to judge shopping.”

The pro-choice group originally challenged two abortion restrictions last year in Teton County District Court. Judge Melissa Owens declined to hear the case, citing “forum shopping.” The group refiled in Natrona County District Court, where the Wyoming Supreme Court assigned Campbell—a retired judge who doesn’t stand for retention—citing an “overburdened docket” and the “extraordinary nature of the case.”

Woykovsky argued that justice demands a new lawsuit since the earlier case is so advanced and the abortion ban is an entirely different question than mere restrictions. He also noted that trying to include the new law would cause more delay, and that the move would strip the people of Wyoming of their representation since they can’t un-retain the judge involved. Campbell has set a hearing on the argument for March 30.