James Edward Gritzner
How Judge Gritzner rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Gritzner
James E. Gritzner is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Gritzner received a commission on February 19, 2002. Judge Gritzner assumed senior status on March 1, 2015.
Judge Gritzner's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Gritzner's own (checked October 10, 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 Gritzner decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In two prominent First Amendment challenges to Iowa speech restrictions, Gritzner separated claims by procedural stage and theory: he struck down the agricultural-production-facility-fraud statute on summary judgment in ALDF v. Reynolds, while allowing student viewpoint-discrimination claims in Gerlich v. Leath to survive dismissal and proceed in part through summary judgment.
“ORDER granting 49 Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment; denying 57 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. The remaining due process claim in Count III is dismissed... Signed by Senior Judge James E. Gritzner on 1/9/2019.”
Procedural preferences
In one arbitration case, the court compelled arbitration and stayed litigation while declining to dismiss the action before arbitration concluded.
“the Court will refrain from dismissing the case but will grant a stay pending arbitration.”
Cautions
In one summary-judgment case, a late response to the movant’s statement of facts did not prevent the court from checking whether each asserted fact had record support and was more than an argumentative interpretation.
“The Court finds that Travelers’ statements of undisputed fact are admitted to the degree that they are supported by the Record and do not constitute argumentative interpretations of expert testimony.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDER granting 49 Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment; denying 57 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. The remaining due process claim in Count III is dismissed... Signed by Senior Judge James E. Gritzner on 1/9/2019.”
“ORDER granting 81 Motion for Permanent Injunction and Entry of Judgment. See order for particulars. Signed by Senior Judge James E. Gritzner on 2/14/2019.”
“ORDER denying 9 Motion to Dismiss. See order for particulars. Signed by Chief Judge James E. Gritzner on 1/6/2015.”
“ORDER granting in part and denying in part 47 Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment; granting in part and denying in part 48 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. See order for all particulars. Signed by Senior Judge James E. Gritzner on 1/22/2016.”
“Producers’ Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 44) must be granted.”
“Accordingly, we make the following award of fees and direct the Clerk of Court to enter Judgment in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendants for fees to the prevailing parties in the amount of $181,623.13.”
“Defendants’ Combined Motion to Dismiss or Stay the Proceedings and to Compel Arbitration [ECF No. 2] must be granted in part and denied in part. Insofar as the Defendants have moved to dismiss the case, their motion is denied. Defendants’ request to stay the proceedings and compel arbitration is granted.”
“Respondents' Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 6) must be granted. The above-entitled action is dismissed.”
“Travelers’ Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 29) must be granted in part and denied in part. The Motion is granted as to the hidden decay theory of causation but denied as to the remainder.”
“Whitesell’s Motion for Default Judgment as to Defendant Smith Jones, Inc. d/b/a Midwest Manufacturing Co. must be granted. The Clerk is directed to enter Judgment against Smith Jones and in favor of Whitesell in the amount of $1,068,757.69”
“For the reasons stated, Defendant’s Motion for New Trial, ECF No. 53, must be denied.”
“U.S. Bank’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 25) must be granted”
“the State’s Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 26) must be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 281 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 158 days (N = 6).
The caseload description is based on about 21 civil, prisoner, habeas, and criminal cases filed from 2004 through 2022. Because some cases were reassigned or decided by another judge, it describes the general docket mix rather than a complete census of decisions personally signed by Judge Gritzner.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Gritzner was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2023.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 9 | 4 |
| Mar 2022 | 9 | 6 |
| Sep 2021 | 14 | 4 |
| Mar 2021 | 14 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 15 | 6 |
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 Southern District of Iowa, not for Judge Gritzner: 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 | 395 | 8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 161 | 9.1 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 222 | 5.8 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 4 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 395 | 8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 360 | 7.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 363 | 8.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 311 | 10.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 372 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 339 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 341 | 9.4 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 Gritzner with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Gritzner, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Gritzner's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace