Henry Harold Kennedy Jr.
How Judge Kennedy rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Kennedy no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Kennedy
Henry H. Kennedy Jr. served as a United States Magistrate Judge and a District of Columbia Superior Court judge before joining the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1997. He assumed senior status due to certified disability on November 18, 2011.
How Judge Kennedy decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He accepted a records search despite its failure to locate the requested document because adequacy turned on the search method rather than the result.
“An agency’s search will not be presumed inadequate simply because the agency did not find the requested documents.”
He refused voluntary vacatur where it would let an agency repeal a rule without notice, comment, or merits review.
“granting vacatur here would allow the Federal defendants to do what they cannot do under the APA, repeal a rule without public notice and comment, without judicial consideration of the merits.”
He denied a combined dispositive motion when the evidence left a genuine factual dispute over administrative exhaustion.
“This dispute of material fact is genuine.”
Cautions
He treated the absence of irreparable employment harm as sufficient to deny preliminary relief without reaching the remaining factors.
“Because plaintiffs cannot establish that the Merger will cause irreparable harm to LOC Police officers, the Court need not address the remaining preliminary injunction factors”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Petitioner makes so such showing, and, therefore, the Court must deny his petition.”
“ORDERED, that defendants’ motion to dismiss, or in the alternative to stay, is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Remand to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reason, defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED.”
“Upon consideration of the parties’ submissions and the entire record, the Court will grant defendants’ motion and deny plaintiffs motion.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant the Government’s motion for an order to construe Williams’ petition as a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and to transfer Williams’ motion to the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for it to determine whether to authorize Williams to file his motion.”
“Accordingly, the Court grants defendant’s motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiffs FOIA claim is barred under the terms of his plea agreement.”
“ORDERED that the defendant’s motion to dismiss or for summary judgment be, and hereby is, DENIED;”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Secretary’s motion to dismiss must be granted.”
“ORDERED that defendant’s motion for summary judgment [# 35] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the court concludes that the motion of the United States should be granted and Bohall’s second amended complaint should be dismissed.”
“ORDERED that the plaintiffs motion for a TRO is DENIED.”
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Kennedy was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2025.
| Motions pending more than six months | 1 |
| 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 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Kennedy no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.