Robert Michael Dow Jr.
How Judge Dow rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Dow no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Dow
Robert Michael Dow Jr. received his commission as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Illinois on December 5, 2007. He assumed full-time duties as Counselor to the Chief Justice of the United States on December 5, 2022. The district court continues to list him on its judge roster.
How Judge Dow decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Mills v. Costco, conflicting testimony about where a wet-floor warning stood left an issue for trial and defeated the store’s summary-judgment motion.
“the conflicting testimony summarized above presents an issue for trial, and the Court must deny Defendant’s motion for summary judgment”
Procedural preferences
In General Casualty, disagreement with a prior ruling and the availability of an appeal did not justify reconsideration.
“Plaintiff simply disagrees with the Court’s decision. Plaintiff could have filed a timely appeal, but chose not to.”
Cautions
In Garcia, an overtime complaint that omitted facts about employment terms, the time worked, and the asserted nonpayment failed to give fair notice.
“he alleges no facts—not the terms of the employment agreement, the period of employment, the number of hours worked overtime”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant’s supplemental motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s Third Amended Complaint [94] is granted”
“Defendant’s initial motion to dismiss [75] is denied as moot”
“the Court respectfully denies Plaintiffs’ motion to reinstate the complaint pursuant to Rule 60(b) [38]”
“the Court grants Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment [20]”
“the Court grants in part Defendants’ motion to dismiss [119] and dismisses Plaintiff’s two federal claims”
“the Court grants Defendants’ motion for summary judgment [109]”
“the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants Dart and Bersky’s motion to dismiss [47]”
“grants in part and denies in part Defendants Martin, Godinez and Fagus’s motion to dismiss [58]”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment [35] is granted in part, as to Counts III and IV”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment [28] is denied in its entirety”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss or for summary judgment [18] is granted”
“Plaintiff’s motion to deny or stay [30] is denied”
“Plaintiff’s motion to certify [8] is also denied as moot”
“the Court grants Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and judgment of foreclosure [21], motion for default judgment and judgment of foreclosure [20], and motion to appoint a special commissioner [19]”
“Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration [17] is denied”
“the Court grants Defendants’ motion to dismiss all counts [18]”
“the Court denies Defendant’s motion to dismiss [35]”
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss the superseded original complaint [20] is stricken as moot”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 64 days (N = 9).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 5 days (N = 11).
The sampled docket records include pension and other benefit disputes, a debt-collection action, insurance and contract cases, a prisoner matter, a criminal matter, and a trademark action. All ten sampled cases had termination dates; several contained no substantive motion ruling.
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 |
| Sep 2024 | 1 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 3 | 1 |
| Sep 2023 | 2 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 3 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 9 | 71 |
| Mar 2022 | 12 | 67 |
| Sep 2021 | 5 | 69 |
| Mar 2021 | 8 | 56 |
| Sep 2020 | 1 | 34 |
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 Dow 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.