Amy Mil Totenberg
How Judge Totenberg decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On summary judgment she follows the empirical record closely: where a defendant produces affirmative testing/exposure data, she lets the claim go to trial; where the plaintiff has 'no evidence' tying that defendant to the harm, she grants SJ. The same order split two co-defendants on identical legal theories.
“the Court finds the evidence is strong enough to overcome summary judgment on Plaintiff's claims against MFG”
Construes habeas custody to include a concrete, imminent threat of immigration detention and distinguishes statutory classification questions from review of a removal order itself.
“Petitioner's potential detention upon arriving at his hearing tomorrow is, thus, not speculative; rather, it is a foreseeable result of ICE's new detention policy. ... the Court GRANTS Petitioner's Writ of Habeas Corpus [Doc. 7] and DECLARES that Petitioner is not an 'arriving alien' as contemplated by 8 U.S.C. § 1225.”
Procedural preferences
Moves expeditiously on emergency/PI matters with tight, explicit briefing schedules and allocated oral-argument time, but rules on a full record after an evidentiary hearing (denied MTG's TRO/PI 17 days after filing, following a hearing and supplemental briefing).
“the Court will endeavor to rule expeditiously on this matter this week”
Does not permit a party to use an eve-of-trial reconsideration motion to introduce record material it failed to cite at summary judgment or to relitigate a finding after the local deadline.
“Defendant did not point to any of this rebuttal evidence that it now wants to rely on to seek reconsideration over a year later, on the eve of trial. ... Accordingly, Defendant's Emergency Motion for Reconsideration [Doc. 116] is DENIED.”
Cautions
Will say plainly when the government's evidentiary presentation is deficient, yet still rule for it where controlling precedent compels the result; expects litigants to provide 'fully developed and legally supported' arguments rather than gesture at factors.
“The Government's presentation (or lack thereof) of what specifically occurred with respect to the flip phones was no doubt sloppy.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, Defendants SunTrust and Wells Fargo's Motions to Dismiss [Docs. 27, 29] are GRANTED and Zeal's Amended Complaint [Doc. 23] is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant Americhem's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 1183] is GRANTED. The Clerk is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of Americhem, Inc. by separate order.”
“Defendant MFG's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 1184] and Motion to Strike [Doc. 1559] Plaintiff's Response to the Motion are DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Exclude Expert Testimony of Timothy Richards [Doc. 1268] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part”
“the Court hereby OVERRULES Defendant's Objections [Doc. 155] and ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation [Doc. 153] as modified by this Order. Mr. Hill's Motion to Suppress [Doc. 128] is DENIED.”
“For the reasons discussed at length below, the Court GRANTS Petitioner's Writ of Habeas Corpus [Doc. 7] and DECLARES that Petitioner is not an 'arriving alien' as contemplated by 8 U.S.C. § 1225.”
“Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that Petitioner's Motion for Temporary Restraining Order [Doc. 2] is GRANTED as follows: ... Respondents are RESTRAINED from detaining Petitioner until the pending habeas petition before this Court can be heard and decided on the merits.”
“For the reasons explained above, Defendant has not shown any appropriate ground for reconsideration of the Court's January 9, 2026 Order, or of its October 25, 2024 Order. Accordingly, Defendant's Emergency Motion for Reconsideration [Doc. 116] is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1763 days (N = 2).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 17 days (N = 1).
The mix is drawn from sampled case records rather than a weighted court-wide caseload baseline. Several significant cases lacked an administrative case-closure row and therefore do not contribute to the duration figures.
Put Judge Totenberg's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Totenberg actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Totenberg's own signed orders and cites them.