Justin Reed Walker
Judge Walker no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Walker decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Walker treated federal review of the state court's reverse-Batson determination as especially deferential because both the state appellate court and the federal habeas court reviewed for limited error.
“And since the Kentucky Supreme Court reviewed the trial court’s decision for clear error, the review here is deference piled on top of deference.”
Walker found an as-applied speech challenge likely to succeed where the ordinance's legality turned on the content of the photographer's proposed statements.
“The Publication Provision is a content-based restriction on Nelson’s expression. That’s because the legality of Nelson’s blog posts depends on what they say.”
Walker required narrow tailoring when religious drive-in worship was prohibited while comparable secular drive-through and parking activities remained permitted.
“Here, Louisville has targeted religious worship by prohibiting drive-in church services, while not prohibiting a multitude of other non-religious drive-ins and drive-throughs – including, for example, drive-through liquor stores.”
Procedural preferences
Walker used Rule 56(f) to resolve a reciprocal indemnity claim after the affected parties had notice of the issue and an opportunity to defend the claim in briefing.
“The O’Bryan Brown & Toner Defendants had an opportunity to defend their indemnity claim in their reply, but they didn’t.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Court GRANTS the summary judgment motion (DN 158) filed by O’Bryan Brown & Toner PLLC and Michael P. Reilly”
“The Court GRANTS the motion for a temporary restraining order filed by On Fire Christian Center, Inc.”
“The Court DENIES Robin Moore’s motion for appointed counsel (DN 28).”
“The Court OVERRULES Moore’s Objections (DN 35).”
“The Court DENIES a certificate of appealability.”
“The Court DISMISSES Moore’s amended habeas petition (DN 20), with prejudice.”
“The Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Louisville’s motion to dismiss (DN 14).”
“The Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Nelson’s preliminary injunction motion (DN 3).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The five sampled matters included post-conviction, prisoner civil-rights, other civil-rights, and product-liability proceedings. The sample did not support motion-rate or timing analysis.
A historical record
Judge Walker no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.