Stanley Sporkin
Judge Sporkin no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Sporkin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He read the immigration statute's reference to government knowledge according to its ordinary breadth rather than substituting a single agency.
“The idea that the seriousness of a nonimmigrant alien’s violation of lawful status is somehow correlated with that alien’s degree of intent to remain in the United States is without foundation in law or reason.”
He required the government to justify restrictions on military chaplains under constitutional and statutory standards rather than relying on military context alone.
“The government clearly has not met its burden.”
Cautions
He enforced filing deadlines even while construing a self-represented litigant's complaint under a more forgiving standard.
“the Court can not overlook legal requirements.”
He imposed full defense costs when a party deliberately filed a second action to evade an earlier dismissal.
“This Court finds that Plaintiffs did act in ‘bad faith’ by filing this suit with the intent to improperly circumvent the Court’s ruling in their previous case, and accordingly, this Court will exercise its inherent power to sanction them for that conduct.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is granted under the terms and conditions of the March 30, April 5 and April 6, 1988 Orders.”
“Accordingly, I am hereby granting plaintiffs’ motion for Declaratory Judgment.”
“ORDERED that the defendants’ motion for a stay of this Court’s Orders pending appeal is hereby denied”
“Based on this inquiry, I am constrained to grant the preliminary injunction.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion be denied;”
“This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. The motion will be granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint.”
He dismissed a pro se complaint sua sponte because its punitive-damages demand could not create diversity jurisdiction.
“Defendants’ motions for severance are denied.”
“Accordingly, Defendant-Petitioner’s motion will be denied.”
“Accordingly, the case will be dismissed in order to allow the Plaintiff to pursue his cause of action through the District of Columbia’s administrative or judicial processes.”
“For the reasons stated in the foregoing Memorandum Opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that defendant-petitioner’s motion be DENIED.”
“ORDERED that plaintiffs shall pay to the defendant attorneys’ fees in the amount $25,-756.58.”
“For the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to transfer this case be DENIED.”
A historical record
Judge Sporkin 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.