Well, duh!, you might say.

But the ugly reality, as Eleventh Circuit chief judge William Pryor spells out in this recent order, is that it has become a recommended “best practice” for judges to discriminate on the basis of race or sex when they select a slate of lead counsel in multidistrict litigation or class-action litigation. Justice Alito condemned this practice more than a decade ago, but it has rapidly spread since then.

In ruling on a judicial-misconduct complaint leveled against federal district judge M. Casey Rodgers of the Northern District of Florida, Chief Judge Pryor forcefully states: “Classifications for appointed counsel based on sex violate the Constitution, the Code of Conduct, and the Judicial-Conduct Rules.” (The complaint alleged only that Rodgers was discriminating on the basis of sex; Pryor’s statement obviously applies as well to classification based on race.)

Judge Rodgers, to her credit, took corrective actions in response to the complaint, and for that reason Chief Judge Pryor terminated the complaint proceeding.

Credit to Mike Davis (of the Article III Project) for filing the complaint.