I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1306 
To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for reassignment of 
certain Federal cases upon request of a party. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 4, 2009 
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California (for himself, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 
and Mr. MCKEON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for reas-
signment of certain Federal cases upon request of a 
party. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Peremptory Challenge 
Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES OF JUDGES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 21 of title 28 of the 
United States Code is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
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‘‘§ 464. Reassignment of cases upon request by a 
party 
‘‘(a)(1) If all parties on one side of a civil or criminal 
case to be tried in a Federal district court, the United 
States Claims Court, or a bankruptcy court file an appli-
cation requesting the reassignment of the case, the case 
shall be reassigned to another appropriate judicial officer. 
‘‘(2) If any question arises as to which parties should 
be grouped together as a side for the purposes of this sec-
tion, the chief judge of the court of appeals for the circuit 
in which the case is to be tried, or another judge of the 
court of appeals designated by the chief judge, shall deter-
mine that question. 
‘‘(b) An application under this section must be filed 
not later than 20 days after notice of the assignment of 
the case to an appropriate judicial officer for the purpose 
of hearing or deciding any matter, except that— 
‘‘(1) a party joined in a civil action after the 
initial filing, with the concurrence of the other par-
ties on the same side, may file an application within 
20 days of the service of the complaint on that 
party; and 
‘‘(2) a party served with a supplemental or 
amended complaint or a third-party complaint in a 
civil action, with the concurrence of the other parties 
on the same side, may file an application within 20 
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days of service of the supplemental, amended, or 
third-party complaint on that party. 
However, no application under this section may be filed 
by the party or parties on a side in a case if any party 
or parties on that side have previously filed an application 
in the case. 
‘‘(c) As used in this section, the term ‘appropriate 
judicial officer’ means— 
‘‘(1) a United States district court judge in a 
case before a United States district court; 
‘‘(2) a United States Claims Court judge in a 
case before that court; 
‘‘(3) a United States bankruptcy judge in a 
case under title 11; and 
‘‘(4) a United States magistrate judge in a case 
referred to such a magistrate judge.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 21 of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘464. Reassignment of cases upon request by a party.’’. 
Æ 
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