J. Thomas Ray
How Judge Ray rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Ray
J. Thomas Ray served for twenty-three years as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas before retiring from full-time service in 2023. The court immediately recalled him for part-time judicial service, and he continues to be listed among its magistrate judges in Little Rock.
Judge Ray's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Ray'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 Ray decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Montalba v. Nelson, Ray recommended granting the defendants summary judgment in a detainee civil-rights suit. The district judge adopted the recommendation and dismissed the claims against the three defendants with prejudice.
“the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants Robert Andexler, Vivalon Nelson, and Curtis Williams [Doc. No. 47] is granted, and Plaintiff Jan Montala's claims against all three Defendants are dismissed with prejudice.”
Procedural preferences
In Howard v. Hobbs, Ray recommended dismissal without prejudice of an unauthorized successive habeas petition so the petitioner could seek Eighth Circuit authorization under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A); the district judge adopted the recommendation.
“the Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, under 28 U.S.C. 2254 (docket entry #1), is DISMISSED, WITHOUT PREJUDICE, so that Petitioner may seek authorization from the Eighth Circuit, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(3)(A), to file a successive habeas petition.”
Cautions
In Humes v. White County, Ray recommended granting the defendants summary judgment on some claims while allowing individual-capacity deliberate-indifference claims against two jailers to proceed to trial. The district judge adopted the disposition apart from one legal point he found premature.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED, in part, and DENIED, in part. Summary judgment is GRANTED to Defendant Clayton Edwards on Mr. Humes's individual capacity claim against Mr. Edwards. Summary judgment is GRANTED to all Defendants on Mr. Humes's official capacity claims against them. Summary judgment is GRANTED to White County as to all claims against it. Mr. Humes's state-law claim for ‘medical negligence’ is DISMISSED without prejudice. On the other hand, summary judgment is DENIED to Ms. Gray and Lt. Jones on Mr. Humes's individual capacity deliberate-indifference claims against them. These claims PROCEED to a jury trial.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant Ramsey's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docs. 62) is GRANTED, and the cruel and unusual punishment claim raised against her is DISMISSED, WITH PREJUDICE, while the retaliation claim raised against her is DISMISSED, WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant Horn, Hopkins, and Cowell's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docs. 65) is GRANTED, and all claims raised against them are DISMISSED, WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants Robert Andexler, Vivalon Nelson, and Curtis Williams [Doc. No. 47] is granted, and Plaintiff Jan Montala's claims against all three Defendants are dismissed with prejudice.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (docket entry #54) is DENIED.”
“Petitioner's Motion for Relief Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(6) (docket entry #14) is DENIED.”
“the Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, under 28 U.S.C. 2254 (docket entry #1), is DISMISSED, WITHOUT PREJUDICE, so that Petitioner may seek authorization from the Eighth Circuit, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(3)(A), to file a successive habeas petition.”
Ray's R&R recommending sua sponte dismissal of a pro se prisoner equal-protection complaint at 28 U.S.C. 1915 screening for failure to state a claim; District Judge Billy Roy Wilson adopted it on de novo review (over the plaintiff's objections and amended complaint) and dismissed without prejudice, counting the dismissal as a 1915(g) 'strike'. This screening dismissal did not resolve a party motion. The recommendation was submitted on 2017-04-21 and adopted on 2017-05-23, a span of 32 days.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED, in part, and DENIED, in part. Summary judgment is GRANTED to Defendant Clayton Edwards on Mr. Humes's individual capacity claim against Mr. Edwards. Summary judgment is GRANTED to all Defendants on Mr. Humes's official capacity claims against them. Summary judgment is GRANTED to White County as to all claims against it. Mr. Humes's state-law claim for ‘medical negligence’ is DISMISSED without prejudice. On the other hand, summary judgment is DENIED to Ms. Gray and Lt. Jones on Mr. Humes's individual capacity deliberate-indifference claims against them. These claims PROCEED to a jury trial.”
“All claims asserted in the 28 U.S.C. § 2254 Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, Docs. 1 and 12, are DISMISSED, WITH PREJUDICE”
“Petitioner's pending Motion for Affirmative Relief (Doc. 34), Motion to Appear for Evidentiary Hearing (Doc. 36), Motion to Appoint Counsel (Doc. 37), Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. 38), and Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 39) are DENIED as MOOT.”
“[Doc. No. 48] is granted, and this case is dismissed with prejudice.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Doc. No. 26, is GRANTED.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Hulum’s request for relief (docket entry #2) is DENIED and the Commissioner’s decision is AFFIRMED.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT this case is REMANDED pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991).”
“judgment [Doc. No. 31] is granted, and Hendley’s claims are dismissed with prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Search-warrant applications often ended the day they were filed, while the reviewed consent Social Security appeals and habeas matters lasted about four to nine months. These limited observations do not describe the full docket.
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 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 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 Ray: 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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