Because of that, some litigants and attorneys don't want their cases to go before particular judges. Unlike criminal cases, Family Court litigants aren't saddled with the judge to whom their case is randomly assigned. Peremptory challenge permits a litigant the one-time ability to boot a judge off a case at its beginning and have another judge randomly assigned.
Critics say it's merely a way to judge shop.
There have been 630 peremptory challenges in more than 550 cases during Family Court's four-year existence. The difference in figures indicates that in some cases the second litigant challenged the judge who had been assigned after the first challenge. More than half of the challenges were aimed at Family Court Judge Fran Fine, who is reputed to be biased against women. Court records indicate that about 90 percent of Fine's challenges came from women. Gaston was challenged 182 times during the four years he has been on the bench and more than three-quarters of them were originated by male litigants.