Steve CarMichael Jones
How Judge Jones decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Distinguishes moral/factual disapproval from legal liability: will rule for a party whose conduct he criticizes when the plaintiff has not carried the statutory burden of proof. In True the Vote he kept his concerns on the record but found a lack of evidence that any voter was actually intimidated.
“the Court maintains its prior concerns about the manner Defendants utilized O.C.G.A. § 21-2-230 to challenge individual voters. The Court, however, ultimately concludes that, as a legal matter, Plaintiffs have not carried their burden”
Procedural preferences
Polices his own subject-matter jurisdiction sua sponte even when neither party raises it — ordered the parties to file a joint statement of the defendant's state of incorporation to confirm complete diversity before proceeding.
“in the interest of caution and for purposes of the Court's sua sponte jurisdictional considerations, within TEN DAYS of the entry of this Order, the Parties file a joint factual statement of their contentions about the state in which North Highland Company is incorporated”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Vra section 11b claim N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 1 |
Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court concludes that no action taken by the Defendants in this case constitute voter intimidation under Section 11(b). ... Accordingly, the Court DIRECTS the Clerk to enter judgment in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiffs.”
“The Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Class Action Complaint filed by Defendant North Highland Company (Doc. No. [33]) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. The Motion is GRANTED as to the breach of contract claim (Count III of the Amended Complaint) and DENIED on all other grounds and claims.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1254 days (N = 2).
Mix from search_dockets case-level rows; no FJC IDB row on the marquee voting cases. Jones is a marquee voting-rights and redistricting judge in the Atlanta/Gainesville divisions.