Benecia B. Moore
How Judge Moore rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Moore
Benecia Betton Moore has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas since November 2023. Before joining the bench, she was a federal prosecutor and clerked for two federal judges. She earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Judge Moore's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Moore'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 Moore decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Morris's Social Security appeal, Moore found that substantial evidence supported the ALJ's decision and that the ALJ applied the proper legal standards.
“supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole and affirms”
Procedural preferences
In Vann v. Carroll, she recommended allowing two individual-capacity claims to proceed while dismissing the remaining claims without prejudice; the district judge adopted the recommendation.
“remaining retaliation, condition-of-confinement, and official-capacity claims are dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted”
Cautions
In Daniels v. Payne, she dismissed an amended habeas petition with prejudice as untimely and declined to issue a certificate of appealability.
“his amended petition is time-barred and must be denied and dismissed with prejudice. No Certificate of appealability shall be issued.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER granting 34 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment; and dismissing, with prejudice, Gardner's individual-capacity excessive-force claim against Officer Hecht, individual-capacity failure-to-intervene claim against Lieutenant Barnum, and official capacity claims.”
“Mr. Vann's motion for preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order is denied”
28 U.S.C. 1915A screening Partial Recommended Disposition by Magistrate Judge Moore, adopted by District Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. Two claims against one officer allowed to proceed; remaining claims dismissed without prejudice. Rules on no party motion; counted as an order read, not a motion. Grounding quote: 'ORDER adopting 5 Partial Recommendation; allowing Frazier's procedural due process and conditions-of-confinement claims against Officer Sanchez to go forward; dismissing, without prejudice, his remaining claims'.
“granting in part and denying in part 12 Motion for Status Update and Motion to Add Plaintiff”
“denying 13 Motion for Order”
“denying 15 Motion to Add Plaintiff and for Discovery”
Screening Partial Recommended Disposition by Magistrate Judge Moore, adopted after de novo review by District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky. Conditions-of-confinement claims proceed; official-capacity claims dismissed without prejudice. Order read, not a motion. Grounding quote: 'dismissing, without prejudice, Plaintiff's official-capacity claims'.
“his request for related injunctive relief is denied as moot”
“denying Defendants' 111 Motion to Strike”
“denying, without prejudice, 68 , 81 , 91 Motions for Summary Judgment”
“granting Reeves's construed and embedded 109 Motion for Subpoena”
“Consistent with the Order that was entered on this date, it is CONSIDERED, ORDERED, and ADJUDGED that Petitioner Nicholas Alexander Ross’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, (Doc. 1-1), is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“MEMORANDUM AND ORDER dismissing, with prejudice, as time barred, 1 5 Hickey's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and amendments thereto”
“denying as moot 15 Hickey's Motion to Stay the Proceedings”
“his amended petition is time-barred and must be denied and dismissed with prejudice. No Certificate of appealability shall be issued.”
“ORDER granting in part and denying in part Defendants' 38 Motion for Partial Summary Judgment”
“denying 81 Motion to Appoint Counsel”
“denying as moot Hutcherson's 32 Motion to Strike Affirmative Defense”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Moore's civil docket is dominated by Social Security disability appeals, pro se prisoner civil-rights suits (Eighth/Fourteenth Amendment conditions, excessive force, retaliation) under 42 U.S.C. 1983, and state and federal habeas petitions (28 U.S.C. 2254/2241); she also carries criminal-duty magistrate work (search warrants, criminal complaints, petty offenses).
- Case durations are not reported as a median because much of the assigned inventory was filed before she joined the court and reassigned to her mid-stream.
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 | 0 | 0 |
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 Eastern District of Arkansas, not for Judge Moore: 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 | 726 | 10.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 373 | 12.7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 338 | 7.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 2 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 13 | 30.9 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 726 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 787 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2023 | 995 | 12.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 894 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 845 | 11.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 848 | 10.9 months |
| Sep 2019 | 878 | 10.5 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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