Anna W. Howard
How Judge Howard rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Howard
Anna White Howard is a United States magistrate judge for the Northern District of Georgia in Gainesville. She joined the court in April 2025 after teaching legal writing at the University of Georgia School of Law and clerking for two federal judges.
Judge Howard's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Howard'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 Howard decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Damons, Howard recommended denying suppression after finding that the defendant left the crashed vehicle and fled, voluntarily abandoning his privacy interest in it. The district judge adopted that recommendation.
“the undersigned finds that Defendant voluntarily abandoned his reasonable expectation of privacy in the Kia Soul and its contents.”
Procedural preferences
In Broderick, her recommendation to deny the motion to quash or dismiss the indictment was adopted when no objections were filed.
“the R&R (Doc. No. [25]) is received with approval and ADOPTED as the Order of this Court. Accordingly, Defendant's Motion To Quash Or Dismiss Indictment (Doc. No. [15]) is DENIED.”
Cautions
In Holloman, her recommendations to deny dismissal, suppression, and return-of-property motions were adopted in full over the defendant's objections.
“the R&R (Doc. No. [59]) is ADOPTED as the Order of the Court as correct in law and fact. Defendant's objections (Doc. No. [62]) are OVERRULED. Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. No. [36]) is DENIED”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the R&R (Doc. No. [59]) is ADOPTED as the Order of the Court as correct in law and fact. Defendant's objections (Doc. No. [62]) are OVERRULED. Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. No. [36]) is DENIED”
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence (Doc. No. [34]) is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion for Return of Property (Doc. No. [52]) is DENIED.”
“the R&R (Doc. No. [25]) is received with approval and ADOPTED as the Order of this Court. Accordingly, Defendant's Motion To Quash Or Dismiss Indictment (Doc. No. [15]) is DENIED.”
“Defendant’s Motion To Disclose Confidential Informants, Doc. 21, is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Defendant’s Motion To Suppress Evidence From Traffic Stop, Doc. 22, be DENIED.”
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss [25] be GRANTED, and that this action be DISMISSED under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) as barred by the applicable statute of limitations.”
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 |
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 Northern District of Georgia, not for Judge Howard: 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 | 6,703 | 4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 640 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 4,138 | 1.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,901 | 11.6 months |
| Closed during trial | 24 | 31.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,703 | 4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 6,190 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 8,614 | 13.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 5,403 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 4,908 | 6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 4,463 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 4,954 | 6.2 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 Howard with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Howard, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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