Walter Early Craig
Judge Craig no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Craig decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a widely cited civil-rights decision he held, after a bench trial, that state and local officers may enforce federal immigration law.
“State and local law enforcement officers may arrest people for violations of federal immigration laws.”
He applied equal-protection scrutiny to durational-residency classifications, striking a one-year requirement as a penalty on the constitutional right to travel.
“penalizes the exercise of the right to travel”
Procedural preferences
He avoided reaching constitutional questions absent a concrete, live dispute, dismissing a challenge where no prosecution was pending or threatened.
“has simply not ripened into a ‘live dispute between the parties’ justifying declaratory relief”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“It is ordered that petitioner’s motion to vacate sentence is denied.”
“It is ordered that the motion is denied.”
“Wherefore, it is ordered the application of petitioner is denied.”
“The Motion for Change of Venue is denied.”
“It is ordered that the above entitled cause be remanded to the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa for the purpose of holding an evidentiary hearing in order to determine whether or not the confessions and admissions admitted in evidence at the trial of petitioner Carter were in fact voluntary.”
“it is ordered that the above entitled cause be remanded to the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Pima for the purpose of resentencing of the 1963 conviction”
“The motion to vacate judgment and sentence is denied.”
“For the above stated reasons, the petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied.”
“The application of petitioner for writ of habeas corpus is denied.”
“it is ordered that the motion of the Intervenor, United States of America, be granted and that the petition of the Association be dismissed without prejudice.”
“Wherefore, it is ordered that the motion of the defendant to dismiss is granted.”
“the motion of the defendant to dismiss the within action upon the grounds that it is barred by the statute of limitations of the State of Utah is denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
No electronic case-level dockets assigned to Craig were located for this historical tenure, so no caseload mix or duration claim is made.
A historical record
Judge Craig no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.