Sharon Lovelace Blackburn
How Judge Blackburn rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Blackburn
Sharon Lovelace Blackburn is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Blackburn received a commission on May 30, 1991. Judge Blackburn assumed senior status on May 8, 2015.
Judge Blackburn's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Blackburn's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 Blackburn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Brown v. Greene County Commission, she denied the employer’s summary judgment motion after finding no evidence that the employee’s speech actually disrupted, or had the potential to disrupt, county functions.
“The Commission, however, has not explained how or if his speech actually disrupted, or had the potential to disrupt, Greene County’s functions.”
She awarded disability benefits when the credited symptom evidence and vocational testimony left no doubt about disability.
“the court finds ‘the evidence establishes disability without any doubt.’”
She treated open and unequivocal possession as constructive notice sufficient to defeat a bankruptcy trustee’s avoidance claim.
“the trustee is not entitled to avoid the transfer pursuant to § 544(a)(3)”
Procedural preferences
She used severance to remand a statutorily nonremovable claim without remanding diverse claims that could remain in federal court.
“L.G. Sourcing’s Motion to Sever and for Partial Remand, (doc. 3), is due to be granted”
She permitted discovery of a Social Security application where it bore on disability, onset, and claimed lost wages.
“The court agrees with defendant that plaintiffs social security application is relevant and therefore discoverable.”
Cautions
A complaint against a furnisher of credit information needed facts showing notice from a consumer reporting agency, not merely a consumer dispute.
“their Amended Complaint fails to state a cause of action for which relief may be granted”
She found manifest necessity for a mistrial only after considering the defendant’s condition, juror availability, and witness availability together.
“the court finds that a mistrial in this case is a manifest necessity.”
In Creer, the court allowed cross-examination about lost audio evidence but denied dismissal because the defendant did not establish bad faith in the loss.
“As the defendant failed to establish bad faith by the Government, dismissal is not warranted due to the failure to discover and produce audio evidence.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the decision of the Commissioner is due to be reversed and this cause remanded for an award of benefits claimed.”
“For the reasons stated below, the court will declare a mistrial and sees no bar to reprosecution in this case.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss does not prove, or even directly allege, the elements necessary to impose sanctions on plaintiff for spoliation. Therefore, the Motion is due to be denied.”
“Plaintiffs Motion to Strike the Affidavit of John Machnicki, CFEI, (doc. 32), and defendant’s Motion to Strike Affidavit of George E. (Ted) Page, BSEE, (doc. 35), are DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Drummond’s Motion to Intervene, (doc. 39), currently pending before the court, will be granted.”
“defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, (doc. 9), is GRANTED. This action is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the court finds that the Motion to Dismiss, (doc. 18), is due to be granted.”
“defendant’s Amended Motion to Dismiss, (doc. 6), is due to be denied and plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, (doe. 13), is moot.”
“TVA’s Motion to Dismiss, (doc. 13), is due to be granted.”
“the petition for writ of habeas corpus in the above-styled cause is hereby DENIED and DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“An Order granting in part and denying the United States's Motion for Preliminary Injunction, (doc. 2), and enjoining enforcement of Sections 11(a), 13, 16 and 17, will be entered contemporaneously with this Memorandum Opinion.”
“the Commission’s Motion for Summary Judgment, (doc. 16), is due to be denied.”
“For the reasons discussed, the court finds that L.G. Sourcing’s Motion to Sever and for Partial Remand, (doc. 3), is due to be granted, and Formosa’s Motion to Remand, (doc. 8), is due to be denied.”
“the court ORDERS that Plaintiffs Motion to Quash Defendant’s Subpoenas, (doc. 12), is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as set forth in this Memorandum Opinion.”
“The Motion to Compel, (doc. 16), is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 426.5 days (N = 20).
The 20 located assigned cases were all later terminated and included employment, prisoner, benefits, contract, insurance, statutory, product-liability, student-loan, and motor-vehicle matters. This archival slice does not establish the distribution of Blackburn’s full caseload.
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 | 0 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 1 |
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 United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, not for Judge Blackburn: 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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