Multidistrict litigation is not special. By making this pithy
observation, we do not mean to denigrate what has become the mother
of all procedural mechanisms. What we mean is that multidistrict
litigation is, at its core, nothing more than a bunch of venue
transfers, bringing multiple cases involving common issues before a
single district judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings. The MDL
statute does not grant an MDL judge any extraordinary or special
powers. In fact, the statute purports to augment a district
judge's prerogative in only one way: An MDL judge "may
exercise the powers of a district judge in any district for the
purpose of conducting pretrial depositions." 28 U.S.C. §
1407(a).
