Federal judge's AI-drafted injunction sparks controversy over hallucinations

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   Virginia Lawyers Weekly

   U.S. judge uses AI to draft restraining order, hallucinations appear; Fifth Circuit discusses whether to replace presiding judge

   A temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi in a civil rights case is alleged to have been drafted by generative AI; the order cited parties not in the record, nonexistent witness statements, and provisions that do not exist in the challenged law. After the state filed a motion for clarification, Wingate removed the original order from the docket and replaced it with a corrected version, but the corrected version is still alleged to contain at least one AI-hallucinated case citation. A Fifth Circuit panel heard arguments last month on whether the case should be reassigned to a different district judge and discussed whether to vacate the preliminary injunction. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley wrote a letter expressing concern, and Wingate responded that a law clerk used AI tools only as a basic drafting assistant, and that the filed order was an early draft that had not gone through the standard review process. Several lawyers said courts' AI use policies should be based on verified reliability, and that lawyers also have an obligation to inform the court when they find an order contains AI-hallucinated content.

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