After I filed a motion to obtain the EDCA's policy for judicial assignments in wiretap cases, the magistrate judge recently ordered the release of this 1996 Memo re case assignments in wiretap cases. Why this memo was not previously made public is a mystery to me.
At first blush, I see a number of problems with assigning a wiretap case to the judge who authorized the underlying wiretap order. Compare the Northern District's local rule on related cases, NDCA rule 8.1, which has commentary stating
A Judge's involvement in any pre-indictment miscellaneous proceeding (e.g., issuance of search warrant) is not a basis for assignment of any resulting criminal action to that Judge as a related case.
Anyone know what other districts do? --John