Leigh Martin May
How Judge May rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge May
Leigh Martin May is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge May received a commission on November 14, 2014.
Judge May's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge May, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
Request any page-limit extension at least five days before the filing deadline.
“Parties seeking an extension of the page limit must do so at least five (5) days in advance of their filing deadline”
Motions
Put record citations in the summary judgment brief itself, not only in a facts statement.
“All citations to the record evidence should be contained in each party’s brief, not just in the party’s statement of undisputed (or disputed) facts.”
Discovery
For a contested discovery motion, email the courtroom deputy to request a conference first.
“the parties should email the Courtroom Deputy Clerk to request a conference with the Court”
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 May decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Castillo’s section 2255 proceeding, May rejected the movant’s later-discovery timeliness argument because he did not explain what efforts he had made to discover the asserted facts during the limitation period.
“Movant has made no showing that he exercised diligence here.”
Procedural preferences
In Ervin v. Atlanta Public Schools, no party objected to the magistrate judge’s recommendation, so May reviewed it for clear error under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and Rule 72 before adopting it.
“No objections have been filed in response to the Report and Recommendation. Therefore, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1) and Rule 72 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court has reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error. It finds none.”
In United States v. Blair and Barros, May denied two motions to dismiss a money-laundering conspiracy count because the indictment tracked the statutory elements and gave enough detail to identify the charge without listing every transaction.
“Count Seven ‘recites the essential elements of’ money laundering and, as the Magistrate Judge noted, precisely tracks the federal money laundering statute.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint, Dkt. No. [16], is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART; the federal claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE; and the state claim is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant Rhonda Billings's motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. [14], is GRANTED, and the claims asserted against Billings are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE under Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
“Respondent's motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. [91], is GRANTED”
“Petitioner's motion to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255, Dkt. No. [89], is DENIED; ... and no certificate of appealability shall issue.”
“Petitioner's motions for summary judgment, Dkt. Nos. [103, 105], are DENIED AS MOOT;”
“Petitioner's motion for status update regarding his § 2255 motion, Dkt. No. [112], is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“the Court finds plain error in the Magistrate Judge's reasoning but concludes that she nevertheless reached the right result. ... Thus, the Bruen decision is not 'clearly on point.' Accordingly, the Court concludes that Rozier remains controlling precedent in this circuit. ... the Court ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation ... AS MODIFIED. Defendant Kevin Laval Williams's motion to dismiss the indictment, Dkt. No. [17], is DENIED.”
“the decision of the Commissioner is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings, pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). The Clerk is DIRECTED to enter judgment in Plaintiff's favor and CLOSE the case.”
After clear-error review and no objections, Chief Judge May adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation and dismissed the habeas action without prejudice for failure to prosecute and obey court orders. No party motion was resolved, so the order is retained outside motion statistics.
“Defendants’ motions to dismiss, Dkt. Nos. [34, 36], are DENIED.”
“Defendant Anthony Rondel Blair’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment [168] and Defendant David Lomba Barros’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment [270] are DENIED.”
“the pending 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion to vacate, Dkt. No. [544], is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Count Four [48] is DENIED.”
“Petitioner’s original § 2255 motion to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, Dkt. No. [58], is DENIED AS MOOT;”
“his amended § 2255 motion, Dkt. No. [60], is DENIED;”
“Defendant Jackson’s motion to suppress evidence, Dkt. No. [186], is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 273 days (N = 6).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 118 days (N = 3).
Mix from case-level docket records; most carry no administrative case-closure row (recent filings). Two False Claims Act qui tam cases and recurring ADA accessibility suits feature in the docket.
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 | 8 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 8 |
| Sep 2025 | 1 | 7 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 4 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Division), not for Judge May: 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 May with the record in hand
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