Liles C. Burke
How Judge Burke rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Burke
Liles Clifton Burke is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Burke received a commission on October 17, 2018.
Judge Burke's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Burke, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Contacting chambers
Copy opposing counsel or unrepresented parties on communications to chambers.
“Ex parte communications are forbidden: all communications to the chambers email address must show that all opposing counsel or pro se parties have been copied.”
Motions
Before a motion other than summary judgment or remand, contact the respondent to determine whether it will be opposed.
“Prior to filing any motion, other than a summary-judgment motion or a motion to remand, the movant must contact the respondent”
Discovery
Schedule a telephone conference with the court before filing a discovery-dispute motion.
“must schedule a telephone conference with the Court before filing a motion arising out of a discovery dispute”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).
How Judge Burke decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the Corporate Transparency Act challenge, Burke held that the statute exceeded Congress’s enumerated powers and granted the challengers’ summary judgment motion.
“The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it cannot be justified as an exercise of Congress’ enumerated powers.”
In one premises-liability case, the court granted summary judgment because the undisputed record established that the defendant property owner owed the plaintiff no duty.
“Because Wolfe Partners owed no such duty, it cannot be said to have consciously omitted it, and Allen’s wantonness claim fails as a matter of law.”
Procedural preferences
In Jones v. Speedway, he granted an unopposed summary judgment motion after reviewing its merits under Rule 56(e).
“Speedway's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 24) is GRANTED, and this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
In United States v. Thomas, he reviewed the challenged portions of a suppression recommendation de novo and adopted the magistrate judge’s findings.
“Having reviewed de novo the proposed findings and recommendations, the Court concludes that the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (Doc. 43) should be ACCEPTED and hereby ADOPTS it as the findings of the Court.”
Cautions
In Crow v. Nurse Cindy, he adopted a recommendation to dismiss the prisoner’s case for failure to exhaust available administrative remedies.
“the defendants' motions to dismiss are due to be granted based on the plaintiff's failure to exhaust administrative remedies under 42 U.S.C. 1997e(a).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Court GRANTS the Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 23) and DENIES the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or Alternative Cross[-Motion for Summary Judgment].”
“Speedway's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 24) is GRANTED, and this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the defendants' motions to dismiss are due to be granted based on the plaintiff's failure to exhaust administrative remedies under 42 U.S.C. 1997e(a).”
“the defendants' motions for summary judgment (Docs. 27, 39, 54) are due to be GRANTED.”
“the plaintiff's motion for an extension of time and request for production of documents (Doc. 54) and Rule 56(e) motion (Doc. 55) is DENIED.”
“the Court GRANTS Defendants' motions for summary judgment, Docs. 31, 32. As a result, the case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and the Clerk is ORDERED to close the case.”
“Phillips' Motion for Sanctions, Doc. 59, is DENIED”
“The defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. (Doc. 13).”
“the Court finds that United Benefits is not entitled to relief from conduct it consented to, and the motion for injunctive relief is DENIED. Doc. 34.”
“the Court GRANTS the motion to enforce settlement. (Doc. 30). The parties are therefore ORDERED to carry out and fulfill the terms and provisions of the Mediation Term Sheet within fourteen (14) days of entry of this Order”
“Garrett's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct her sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 is DENIED. Doc. 1.”
“the respondent's motion to dismiss (Doc. 15) is due to be granted and the petition is due to be dismissed as moot.”
“the Appellee's motion to dismiss (Doc. 7) is GRANTED, and it is ORDERED that this appeal is DISMISSED.”
“The Court therefore OVERRULES Thomas’s objections (Doc. 325) and ORDERS that Thomas’s Amended Motion to Suppress (Doc. 317) be DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 402 days (N = 17).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 185 days (N = 1).
The reviewed cases provide illustrative case-mix context rather than an exhaustive count. No administrative disposition baseline is available after mid-2021.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 5 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 13 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 5 | 13 |
| Sep 2025 | 14 | 11 |
| Mar 2025 | 52 | 13 |
| Sep 2024 | 76 | 12 |
| Mar 2024 | 38 | 7 |
| Sep 2023 | 8 | 4 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2021 | 10 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 10 | 3 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, not for Judge Burke: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 1,513 | 8.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 113 | 2.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,380 | 9.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 6 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 14 | 32.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,513 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,290 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,387 | 9.3 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,507 | 11.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,803 | 10.8 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,507 | 10.9 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,732 | 10.8 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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