by Chief Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the Southern District of Illinois just said “no” today to the attempt at judge shopping by the State of Illinois. She transferred both Langley v. Kelly and FFL-IL v. Pritzker to Judge Stephen McGlynn. Judge McGlynn is the judge of record in Harrel v. Raoul.
In addition, the magistrate to whom Barnett v. Raoul had been assigned ordered that case transferred to Judge McGlynn.
I had posted about the attempt by the State of Illinois to game the system earlier today. They had first pulled a state court case to Federal court and then tried to have it be the lead case. Their argument was that it was the first case filed anywhere. However, precedent in the district stated that consolidated cases should be assigned to the judge of the case with the lowest number. Here that would have been the joint SAF, FPC, and ISRA case of Harrel v. Raoul.
I applaud the Chief Judge for abiding by the longstanding precedent in the District for assignments in consolidated cases.