Henry F. Floyd
How Judge Floyd rules, drawn from 60 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Floyd
Henry Franklin Floyd is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Floyd received a commission on October 5, 2011. Judge Floyd previously served on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, commissioned there on September 24, 2003. Judge Floyd assumed senior status on December 31, 2021.
Judge Floyd's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Floyd's own (checked October 11, 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 11, 2026).
How Judge Floyd decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A statutory argument prevailed where the opposing interpretation added a contextual requirement that Congress did not include in the operative text.
“Notably absent is language requiring an officer to commit the tort in the course of an investigative or law enforcement activity or, for that matter, any language regarding the context in which an officer must commit the tort.”
Guideline selection followed the elements charged in the indictment rather than uncharged conduct or a more convenient offense characteristic.
“Simply put, where an indictment omits an element of an offense, the guideline corresponding to that offense is inapplicable, even if the alternative guideline’s provisions do not account for certain details that the indictment charges.”
A torture-risk claim required the decisionmaker to combine risks from every source and meaningfully address the full supporting record rather than evaluate each threat separately.
“We now join our sister circuits and hold that the risks of torture from all sources should be combined when determining whether a CAT applicant is more likely than not to be tortured in a particular country.”
At the preliminary-injunction stage, Floyd required factual evidence supporting the proposed antitrust market rather than an expert's interpretation of older cases and outdated market assumptions.
“We are merely holding that the Players presented no factual evidence here and therefore clearly failed to meet their burden of proof.”
Procedural preferences
Only named defendants could be considered when applying the local-controversy exception before certification; absent proposed class members were not yet parties.
“An unnamed member of a proposed but uncertified class is not a party to the litigation.”
Criminal interlocutory review required every element of the collateral-order doctrine and could not be justified by balancing the interests involved.
“This is not a balancing test; to fall within the collateral order doctrine, a trial court order must satisfy each condition.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment and remand the case for further proceedings.”
“We therefore affirm his sentence.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the decision of the district court remanding this case to state court is vacated and this action is remanded for a determination by the district court as to whether the named defendant appraisers satisfy the ‘at least 1 defendant’ requirement of the local controversy exception.”
“We therefore affirm Grant's sentence.”
“We therefore affirm the district court’s grant of the Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and its decision to enjoin enforcement of the Virginia Marriage Laws. ... AFFIRMED.”
“For the reasons provided above, we affirm Collins's conviction and his term of imprisonment, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion as to his term of supervised release.”
“Thus, we affirm, in full, the district court's grant of summary judgment in SSA's favor.”
“We vacate Adams’s § 922(g) conviction and its attendant sentence and special assessment. We direct the entry of judgment in favor of Adams on his § 2255 motion without remand. VACATED”
“For the foregoing reasons, we vacate Williams's sentence, and remand this case to the district court for resentencing under the burglary guideline.”
“Accordingly, the judgment below is AFFIRMED.”
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