An Oklahoma district court is among the slowest in the nation. It's led to delayed justice

Kamrin Green’s middle school students were supposed to research an injustice and find a solution. That assignment was put on hold as Green wondered whether the assignment would run afoul of House Bill 1775.

It took 2 ½ years to get an answer, as an injunction that would temporarily bar implementation of the new law languished on a judge’s desk. It was one of more than 150 federal motions gathering dust in Oklahoma’s Western District.

While no one required Green to remove the injustice project or others like it, she feared losing her certification or being fired under the law, which banned certain classroom discussions about race, gender and sex.

Like Green, John McCoy, a Will Rogers College High School world history teacher, rearranged his curriculum because of the law.

“It’s just another one of those things that is in the back of my mind as a teacher,” McCoy said.

Teachers finally got some clarity on June 14 when U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin issued a partial preliminary injunction on the controversial bill. Goodwin agreed that sections of the law are vague and blocked parts of HB 1775 from being enforced while the litigation is pending. Both sides appealed.

Delays such as the 2 1/2 year wait on the injunction are frequent for Goodwin, who consistently ranks as one of the slowest federal judges in the state, data showed.

Western District of Oklahoma has 12th highest number of motions pending over six months

There are 94 district courts in the federal system, and the Western District of Oklahoma has the 12th highest number of motions pending over six months, data from the U.S. Court system shows .

Of the judges in the Western District Court of Oklahoma, Goodwin had the third-most motions pending longer than six months. That is one of the metrics used to evaluate federal courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, which seeks to reduce costs and delays in civil litigation.

As of March 31, Goodwin had 49 motions pending that were more than six months old. That’s on par with two other judges in the same district, Scott Palk and Jodi Dishman , who had 57 and 56, respectively.

Goodwin, Palk and Dishman combined to account for 162 of the 170 motions that have been pending more than six months, an excessive backlog compared to the other judges in the district, each of whom had fewer than five pending motions.

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Statewide, Goodwin, Palk and Dishman accounted for 47% of all motions more than six months old.

Only one other Oklahoma judge had a similar count. Northern District Chief Judge John Heil had 55 motions pending in the Northern District, and 59 motions pending in the Eastern District.

U.S. District Court judges earn $243,300 per year, according to court-published data .

Oklahoma Watch contacted the Western District Court to better understand why three judges routinely had such delays but was turned away by the court clerk’s office, which explained that all data in the report was related to open cases on which the judges wouldn’t comment.

“Some judges inherit cases or get assigned cases that are more complicated than other judges have,” said Andrew Spiropoulos, a law professor at Oklahoma City University.

He said complicated cases can take more time and that can be a reason for the delay.

In the Western District, judges are assigned cases at random, but there are precautions in place to ensure that one judge is not taking on a substantially larger caseload than other judges.

In the report, the judges note that the reason for the delay on many of the motions is because of the complexity of the case and caseload. However, Goodwin has been criticized in the past for slow response time.

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When Goodwin was first nominated for the U.S. District Court, the American Bar Association committee for ranking judicial nominees rated him unqualified for the position, citing his frequent delays in arriving at the courthouse. He said he sometimes didn’t arrive until the afternoon because he did his court readings and research at home.

After becoming a district judge, Goodwin has consistently had one of the highest totals of slow-moving motions in each of the past five years, according to data published under the Civil Justice Reform Act.

In a conference call regarding the House Bill 1775 case with attorneys in 2022, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union urged Goodwin to move faster to address the injunction.

More: Federal judge issues temporary injunction blocking key provision of House Bill 1775

“We certainly intend to get you an order as soon as possible, but I’m not aware of any events that might provide some added urgency, something that’s coming up that you’re particularly concerned about, but tell me if I’m wrong on that,” Goodwin said, according to court records.

Emerson Sykes of the American Civil Liberties Union pointed out the urgency to provide clarity to Oklahoma educators and students in both the K-12 and higher education systems.

Goodwin and the attorneys declined comment when contacted, due to the ongoing case.

For school districts, the more time elapsed, the more uncertainty they faced.

In August 2022, the state Board of Education downgraded the accreditation of Tulsa Public Schools and Mustang Public Schools after complaints under HB 1775.

Tulsa’s complaints came from a high school teacher who felt a staff training video had an implicit bias. Mustang also faced consequences for an anti-bullying activity conducted in a leadership class.

The impacts of delayed rulings

The HB 1775 case attracted a lot of attention, but there are other examples of delayed justice.

In one case, Eva Kopaddy sued the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center after her nephew, Ronald Given died in jail.

Kopaddy sued on grounds of excessive force, negligence, assault and battery and wrongful death. Given was involved in a six-minute altercation in which detention officers slammed Given to the ground. Given later died, and the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be an irregular heartbeat due to the struggle with the jailers.

In April 2021, Chief Mason Wilson of the Shawnee Police Department asked to be removed from the lawsuit, arguing that the complaint did not provide a sufficient allegation, and it was not until almost three years later that Goodwin granted the dismissal.

In another case, six people sued members of the Oklahoma City Police Department for violations of their First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights after an altercation with a police officer in 2020.

The case has been reassigned to different judges twice: First to Judge Robin Cauthron, then to Palk and now to Goodwin. The case still has several pending motions, as noted on Nov. 16 by the plaintiffs’ attorney, with many that date back to 2022.

Those pending motions can severely delay a case resolution. For example, one Western District rule says no party may seek discovery from any source if a motion to dismiss is pending, so a delayed ruling on the motion brings the case to a standstill.

“Lawsuits change livelihoods, and the idea that you’re in this limbo period for an extended period of time is very concerning,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, a nonprofit that seeks to find solutions to issues within the judicial system.

Roth described the litigation process within the federal courts as one of the most consequential things someone can go through and said it can be both costly and time-consuming.

“Both as litigants and as citizens we would want the wheels of justice to move expeditiously,” Roth said.

The Civil Justice Reform Act, meant to reduce costs and delays in civil litigation, requires semiannual reports showing case backlogs.

“So what you hope is that if you publish the data then judges will themselves want to, at the extent to which they can, speed up so that they’re all about at the same pace,” Spiropoulos said. “They don’t want to be the person who is behind.”

Roth said that hopefully, the Civil Justice Reform Act would serve as a reminder to the judges.

A chief judge might also attempt to encourage a judge to move faster, but Spiropoulos said that for the most part, it is self-monitoring.

Oklahoma Watch interviewed multiple attorneys, each of whom expressed frustration with delays in Goodwin, Dishman and Palk’s courtrooms but declined to go on the record citing fear of retribution that could affect their livelihoods.

“They have no work ethic,” said one Oklahoma attorney who Oklahoma Watch granted anonymity to protect his practice. “They can take their damn time.”

Pennsylvania attorney Edward Kang has written extensively on judicial delays and recommended a first step. He suggested that if a motion is older than 60 days, the plaintiff and defendant’s counsel write a joint letter to the judge, calling attention to the motion and presenting a united front on the need for resolution.

If that procedure fails, these issues should be brought to the attention of the chief judge, Kang said.

Judges are held accountable for such delays through the chief judge, the Civil Justice Reform Act and frequent data reports that are submitted to the courts, Spiropoulos said.

Although a chief judge can encourage a judge to move at a faster pace or reassign the case, federal judges receive lifetime appointments and cannot be removed by a chief judge. Removal from the bench is only possible under limited circumstances and requires impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives and conviction by the U.S. Senate.

Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti oversees the judges within the Western District, and each federal circuit has a judicial council with oversight responsibilities, including the authority to make all necessary and appropriate orders for the effective and expeditious administration of justice within its circuit.

That has little effect, attorneys told Oklahoma Watch.

“If they get a slap on the wrist from a circuit board, it’s like a wet noodle,” said one Oklahoma attorney.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to comment on the rules and procedures regarding federal judges.

Roth said more judges were needed to reduce the number of pending motions pending. The last time a major bill was signed to increase judgeship was in 1990, under President George H.W. Bush, Roth said.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, introduced the Judges Act of 2024. The bill would increase the number of judges in the federal system. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, backed the bill.

Roth said that as the population increases, so should the number of judges.

“Even in the Constitution, in the Sixth Amendment, the word speedy is used to talk about prosecutions, and, in fact, speedy is not a word I would use to describe the federal courts right now,” Roth said.

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org , is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: An Oklahoma district court is among the slowest in the nation. It's led to delayed justice