A pro-choice coalition’s recent court challenge to Wyoming’s newest abortion restrictions was reassigned from a sitting judge in Natrona County to a retired one from another district because the case demands urgency, and the Casper court has a heavy case load, the top administrator of Wyoming’s judicial branch told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
A key difference is that retired Judge Thomas Campbell, to whom Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Kate Fox reassigned the abortion case last month, does not have to stand for a retention vote at elections, where a regular Natrona County District Court judge would face a retention question before the voters every six years.
“The reassignment was specifically due to the overburdened docket of the court and the extraordinary nature of the case, which is expected to require significant judicial attention within tight timelines as requested by the parties to the case,” Wyoming State Court Administrator Elisa Butler told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday email.
Butler pointed to the judiciary’s policy outlining the three reasons that justify bringing in a retired judge. Those are:
• A sitting judge’s absence to due illness or family emergency.
• Reasonable personal leave.
• The court’s overburdened docket, the extraordinary nature of the case or an extended trial that would burden the court’s schedule.
In this case, the abortion challenge satisfies that third reason, said Butler.
Before March 25, the abortion case was assigned to Natrona County District Court Judge Daniel Forgey.
Forgey asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to give the case to the retired judge, Butler said, noting that Wyoming law authorizes district court judges to make those requests.
Forgey’s judicial assistant did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
The latest in a series of abortion-restriction challenges by roughly the same coalition of pro-choice litigants, the recent case opposes a two new Wyoming laws: one that would require women to receive ultrasounds before obtaining chemical abortions; and another imposing multiple rigorous medical requirements on abortion clinics.
Campbell is currently considering whether to pause those laws during the case. He heard arguments for and against that gesture Tuesday.
The Judge On The Case
Appointed in 2009 by former Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal to serve as Laramie County District Court Judge, Campbell retired from the position in 2024 after more than 40 years in law. He has been recalled to oversee other cases since then.
He was elected Carbon County Attorney three times in the 1990s, after serving as a deputy prosecutor. He was appointed to be a Cheyenne Circuit Court Judge in 2001.
In a Friday text message to Cowboy State Daily, Campbell declined to comment on the abortion case and his assignment to it, saying it would not be proper to do so.
Wyoming judges generally do not comment on the cases they’re overseeing.
The Constitution Allows This
Fox’s order reassigning the abortion case to Campbell cited the Wyoming Constitution’s Article Five, Section Five, which says retired judges can be reassigned to active duty “where and when needed.”
State law specifies further that retired judges can only be recalled if they’re not currently practicing law.
The State Constitution, conversely, requires Wyoming Supreme Court Justices and district court judges to retire when they turn 70.
You Stay In Casper
Wyoming has one surgical abortion clinic currently: Wellspring Health Access in Casper.
The pro-choice coalition originally challenged the law in Natrona County, and asked the judge to block the laws from going into effect on a temporary, emergency basis.
When the judge did not set a quick hearing or block the laws, the plaintiffs re-filed in Teton County District Court, where Judge Melissa Owens had ruled in their favor five months prior on a landmark abortion case.
Owens had deemed the procedure “health care” and a constitutional right, in a November order blocking two abortion bans.
Wyoming has since appealed that decision; the appeal is pending in the Wyoming Supreme Court with oral argument set for April 16.
But on March 21, Owens dismissed the pro-choice group from her court, saying the re-filing looked like “a case of forum shopping,” and risked eroding the public’s confidence in an impartial judiciary across Wyoming’s counties.
“In Wyoming, justice is impartially delivered by every judge wihtout regard to their county or their personal and political convictions,” wrote Owens.
The delay in Natrona County stemmed from Forgey’s care in making sure the defendants had the chance to bring in their lawyers and contest the plaintiffs’ request, Owens added.
Just Glad They’re There
Multiple Wyoming attorneys declined to speculate publicly on the impact, if any, of Campbell’s assignment to the case.
John Robinson, a main attorney for the pro-choice group, also declined to comment, as did Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill, whose office is tasked with defending the state’s abortion restrictions.
Casper-based attorney Alaina Stedillie, who is not an attorney in the case, and who is partner in the local firm Crowley Fleck, said she’s just grateful Wyoming has competent retired judges who can step in when needed.
“It is a testament to the quality of the judiciary in Wyoming, that when a sitting district court judge cannot hear a case for whatever reason, we have the privilege of calling on recently-retired judges, to step in when necessary,” said Stedillie in a Thursday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
