Patricia S. Harris
How Judge Harris rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Harris
Patricia S. Harris is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, based in Little Rock. The district court reappointed her to another eight-year term in 2023 and designated her to preside over civil cases by consent and misdemeanor cases.
Judge Harris's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Harris'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 Harris decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Verser, Harris recommended granting the Commissioner’s unopposed motion for a sentence-four remand.
“For good cause, the Court recommends that the unopposed motion to reverse and remand be granted.”
Cautions
In Holliman’s pretrial habeas case, Harris recommended dismissal without prejudice because the petitioner had not shown ineffective state procedures or extraordinary circumstances justifying federal intervention.
“For these reasons, the undersigned recommends that this case be dismissed without prejudice.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For good cause, the Court recommends that the unopposed motion to reverse and remand be granted.”
“For these reasons, the undersigned recommends that this case be dismissed without prejudice.”
“IT IS THEREFORE RECOMMENDED THAT the parties’ joint motion to dismiss (docket entry 20) be GRANTED, and plaintiff’s complaint be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Harris recommended dismissal without prejudice at prisoner-complaint screening and recommended counting the dismissal as a strike. The district judge adopted the recommendation on August 19, 2020. No party motion was pending.
“For good cause, the Court recommends that the unopposed motion to reverse and remand be granted.”
“For good cause shown, the motion should be granted. This case should be remanded in accordance with the terms outlined by the Commissioner.”
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 lasted about three to seven months. Several appeals filed in 2024 and 2025 remained pending when reviewed, so these 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 | 1 | 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 Harris: 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).
Draft for Judge Harris with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Harris, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Harris's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace