Karen LeCraft Henderson
How Judge Henderson rules, drawn from 39 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Henderson
Karen LeCraft Henderson is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Henderson received a commission on July 5, 1990. Judge Henderson previously served on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, commissioned there on June 16, 1986.
Judge Henderson's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Henderson'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).
- Standing Order No. 20-2: Paper Copies of Electronic Filings in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic ↗
- Standing Order No. 20-3: Paper Copies of Electronic Filings in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic ↗
- Notice: Preferred Typefaces for Briefs ↗
- Notice: Specifications for Binding Briefs and Appendices ↗
- Notice Regarding Electronic Filing of Appendices ↗
- Notice: Mandatory Notification of Settlement Proceedings ↗
- Notice: Standard Briefing Schedules for Intervenors and Amici Curiae ↗
- Notice Regarding Use of Acronyms ↗
- Notice: Procedures for Handling Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
How Judge Henderson decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Murphy's request for grand-jury meeting dates and times, she upheld withholding under Exemption 3 and Rule 6(e), reasoning that disclosure could make a witness's identity more likely to be discovered.
“A tendency need only make a result more likely.”
In the challenge to EPA's Comparable Fuels Exclusion, she read the statutory words ‘shall’ and ‘any’ to require regulation of fuels derived from listed hazardous waste and vacated the exclusion.
“The word ‘shall’ makes the directive to regulate hazardous-waste-derived fuels mandatory.”
Procedural preferences
In Erie Boulevard Hydropower v. FERC, Henderson enforced a state court settlement according to its terms despite a later change in the governing law and denied the petition for review.
“[A] change in the law does not render an agreement void.”
In Kansas Corporation Commission v. FERC, Henderson dismissed the commission’s challenge to formula rates for lack of standing because its claimed future harm depended on several speculative steps.
“KCC's alleged harm stacks speculation upon hypothetical upon speculation, which does not establish an actual or imminent injury.”
Cautions
In Children’s Hospital v. NLRB, Henderson remanded because the Board had not addressed the statutory provisions relevant to its unfair labor practice finding.
“Because the Board failed to address the relevant statutory provisions, we grant the Hospital's petition for review, deny the Board's cross-petition for enforcement and remand to the Board for proceedings consistent herewith.”
In Dover Energy v. NLRB, Henderson rejected the Board’s reading of a warning to employee Kaanta as reaching protected conduct beyond the specific requests that prompted it.
“No reasonable employee in Kaanta's position could read it otherwise.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the district court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the district court's judgment is affirmed.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court order and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“Accordingly, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the CIA.”
“Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment to DOJ on its Exemption 7(C) withholding claims for the information regarding the Special Counsel’s declination decisions on the purported campaign violations. ... In all other respects, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to DOJ on its Exemption 7(C) withholding decisions.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the district court’s dismissal pursuant to the state secrets privilege and remand with instructions to dismiss the complaint on the ground that Kareem lacks Article III standing.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Board.”
“Because the record -- viewed with the deference due the Board -- lacks substantial evidence in support of the Board's decision, we grant Blackmer's petition and deny the Board's cross-application for enforcement.”
“We agree that the Board lacks authority to require the reimbursement of litigation costs incurred during Board proceedings... but hold that the Board may require an employer to reimburse a union's bargaining expenses pursuant to its remedial authority under section 10(c) of the Act... Accordingly, we grant the Companies' joint petition in part and grant the Board's cross-application for enforcement in part.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we deny Salem's petition for review and grant the Board's cross-application for enforcement.”
“For the reasons set forth below, we grant Comau's petition and vacate the Board's finding that Comau committed a ULP by unilaterally changing its employees' healthcare benefits.”
Draft for Judge Henderson with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Henderson, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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