Stephen M. McNamee
How Judge McNamee rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge McNamee
Stephen M. McNamee is a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. President George H. W. Bush appointed him, and he received his commission on June 4, 1990. He served as chief judge from 1999 to 2006 and took senior status on October 1, 2007.
Judge McNamee's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge McNamee'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 8, 2026).
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Relief, filed September 26, 2013 (Doc. 37) is DENIED as moot.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification, filed November 29, 2013 (Doc. 46) is DENIED as moot.”
“Defendant Ams’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 67), construed as a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss, and the Motion is denied.”
“Defendant Ams’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 90) is denied without prejudice.”
“denying as moot Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 42.)”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. (Doc. 15).”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. (Doc. 25).”
“denying Plaintiff’s Application to Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs. (Doc. 2).”
“denying Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgement as moot. (Doc. 9).”
“IT IS ORDERED granting Defendants’ Motion to Set Aside Default. (Doc. 23).”
“the Court grants the parties’ Motion for Entry of Stipulated Judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement. (Doc. 35).”
“denying Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs without prejudice. (Doc. 18).”
The court rejected a recommendation as moot after the plaintiff sought to amend its complaint; this order decided no motion.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The inspected matters include mortgage, labor, and other civil disputes. This small selected sample cannot establish the judge’s overall caseload mix.
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 | 1 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2025 | 2 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 2 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 4 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 2 |
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 District of Arizona, not for Judge McNamee: 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 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 135 | 2.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,001 | 5.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 335 | 15.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 14 | 32.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,278 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,126 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,181 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 3,857 | 20.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,128 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,842 | 9.6 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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