Deborah K. Chasanow
How Judge Chasanow rules, drawn from 31 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Chasanow
Deborah K. Chasanow is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Chasanow received a commission on October 20, 1993. Judge Chasanow assumed senior status on October 3, 2014.
Judge Chasanow's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Chasanow's own (checked October 9, 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).
- Order 2026-05: Redacted Filings in FRCP 5.2(c) Cases ↗
- Order 2026-03: Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Court Filings ↗
- Order 2025-05: Procedures for the Filing of Sealed Documents ↗
- Amended Order 2021-13: Removal Actions ↗
- Amended Order 2022-04: Social Security Cases ↗
- Second Amended Order 2021-02: Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Order 2020-01: Discovery in Criminal Cases ↗
- Order 2018-07: Amicus Briefs ↗
- Order 2018-08: Service of Rule 68 Offers of Judgment ↗
- Second Amended Order 2025-01: Petitions for Writs of Habeas Corpus—Alien Detainee ↗
- Order 2024-01: Deficiency Notices ↗
How Judge Chasanow decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Elyazidi, Chasanow declined Rule 11 sanctions where counsel had a legal basis for testing a losing consumer claim.
“there is a difference between a losing case and a frivolous one.”
Procedural preferences
In Smith, Chasanow enforced the sequencing limits on successive Rule 12 motions and deferred a choice-of-law-sensitive merits issue until the pleadings closed or the record developed.
“The first is not allowed because Defendant failed to raise this defense in its first Rule 12 motion, and the second is only appropriate after the pleadings are closed, which has not happened here.”
In Akinola v. Corizon Health Service, she denied Officer Lavin's dismissal request after treating the amended complaint's allegations as true and declining to resolve his competing factual account at the pleading stage.
“Officer Lavin’s factual disputes with Mr. Akinola’s amended complaint again misunderstand the burden at the motion to dismiss stage, where the court accepts the facts in the complaint as true.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss will be granted with regard to her whistleblower, Title VII hostile work environment, and wrongful discharge claims.”
“Mr. Karpinski’s motion for sanctions will be denied.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss will be granted.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration, motions for extension of time and a partial temporary stay, and motion for sanctions will be denied.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration will be denied.”
“the motion for sanctions filed by Bethesda Softworks will be granted in part and denied in part.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment is granted.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment will be granted in part.”
“A preliminary injunction will be denied.”
“The motion for reconsideration filed by Plaintiff Baldwin Void (ECF No. 26) BE, and the same hereby IS, DENIED;”
“the motion to dismiss filed by Defendants will be granted”
“the motion filed by Plaintiff for preliminary injunction will be denied.”
“the court will grant Defendant’s amended motion for summary judgment”
“the motions to dismiss will be granted”
“the motion for sanctions will be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 124 days (N = 9).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 1 days (N = 10).
The original thirteen reviewed matters include bankruptcy, contract, wage-and-hour, consumer, foreclosure, information-access, civil-rights, and emergency-injunction litigation. Thirteen January 2025 civil matters were added for case timing and signed outcomes. Across the twenty-six selected cases, seventeen were terminated and nine remained pending.
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 | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 11 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 8 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 7 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 2 |
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 District of Maryland, not for Judge Chasanow: 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 | 3,191 | 6.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 151 | 5.7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,564 | 5.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 457 | 13.6 months |
| Closed during trial | 19 | 33.9 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 3,191 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 3,119 | 7.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 3,370 | 9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 3,053 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,629 | 8.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,469 | 9 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,709 | 7.9 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).
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