UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
)
IN THE MATTER OF: ) No. 24-mc-00001
)
ASSIGNMENT OF CASES ) GENERAL ORDER /
) ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
) 2024-11
)
GENERAL ORDER
This order supersedes and replaces all prior orders of this court on this subject.
This General Order is entered pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 137 and Local Rule 40-1,
providing for distribution of the court’s business and caseload among the judges in such manner
as may be prescribed by order of the court.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, subject to exceptions provided in the Local Rules, in
specific directives of the court, or elsewhere in this order, cases filed in the Southern District of
Indiana will be randomly assigned to a presiding United States District Judge and a Magistrate
Judge within the division in which the case is filed.
One exception to the foregoing case-assignment rule relates to cases in which a party
seeks a nationwide or statewide injunction barring or mandating enforcement of a state or federal
law, rule, regulation, policy, or order of the executive branch or a state or federal agency.
Consistent with guidance issued by the Judicial Conference of the United States in March 2024,
such cases shall be randomly assigned to a presiding United States District Judge on a district-
wide basis. If in any civil action an amended complaint or motion seeking such injunctive relief
is filed where previously no such relief was sought, the presiding United States District Judge
may choose to order the Clerk of Court to randomly reassign the presiding United States District
Judge using the district-wide wheel for reassignment of the case. Relevant factors in making
this decision include, but are not limited to, whether significant steps have been taken in the
action and whether the party seeking such relief should have known that such relief would be
sought.
Nothing in this Order limits the authority of the court with respect to the assignment of
the magistrate judge.
For the Court,
Date: 4/15/2024
