Elsa M. Bullard
How Judge Bullard rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bullard
Elsa M. Bullard became a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota in June 2025, sitting in Minneapolis. A graduate of the United States Military Academy and the University of Minnesota Law School, she previously practiced as a litigation partner at Faegre Drinker.
Judge Bullard's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Bullard, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Contacting chambers
For IDR, serve and email letters no longer than three pages at least two business days before the call.
“the letter submissions shall be no more than three pages in length and shall be served and emailed to Chambers at least two business days before the telephone hearing.”
Filing
Provide paper courtesy copies when total submissions exceed twenty pages.
“Please provide Chambers paper courtesy copies of submissions—including motions, memoranda, responses, declarations, affidavits, exhibits, proposed orders, etc.— when the total filing exceeds 20 pages”
Motions
For a contested motion, request a hearing date before filing.
“A hearing date must be requested before the motion is filed”
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).
- Amended Administrative Order: Procedures for Storage and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- General Order No. 1: Filing Sealed Documents with Highly Sensitive Information ↗
- General Order No. 2: Removing Sealed Documents with Highly Sensitive Information from CM/ECF ↗
- Administrative Order: Encryption of Electronic Materials and Cloud Storage Links ↗
How Judge Bullard decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In United States v. Elizabeth Rose, she recommended granting the government's unopposed request to dismiss a misdemeanor information after finding no indication of bad faith or harm to the public interest; the district judge adopted the recommendation.
“I apply a presumption of good faith to the Government’s motion.”
Procedural preferences
In United States v. John Michael Duffy, she directly denied requests for informant disclosure and a Franks hearing while recommending denial of suppression. The district judge affirmed the direct rulings and adopted the recommendation.
“Magistrate Judge Bullard’s order denying Duffy’s Motion for Disclosure of Confidential Informants (ECF No. 138) and Motion for a Franks Hearing (ECF No. 139) is AFFIRMED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff Connie H.’s request for relief [ECF No. 10] is DENIED;”
“Nathan L.’s Request for Relief (ECF No. 17) is DENIED;”
“The Plaintiff’s request for relief (Dkt. 9) is DENIED;”
“Petitioner Christopher Paul Coker’s Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. No. 1) is DENIED.”
“The Petition (Docket No. 1) is DENIED as moot;”
“The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (ECF No. 1) is DENIED;”
“Plaintiff Bryant Duane Griffin’s Application to Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs [ECF No. 2] is DENIED AS MOOT;”
“The Government’s Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. No. 19) be GRANTED;”
“Duffy’s Motion To Suppress (ECF No. 137) is DENIED;”
“Mr. Duffys Motion for Disclosure of Informants and Cooperating Defendants (Dkt. No. 138) is DENIED”
“Mr. Duffys Motion for Franks Hearing (Dkt. No. 139) is DENIED”
“Alm's Motion to Suppress from Search and Seizure (Dkt. No. 134) be DENIED”
“Alm's Motion to Suppress from Search Warrant (Dkt. No. 135) be DENIED”
Bullard recommended dismissing claims against one defendant without prejudice; the district judge adopted the unopposed recommendation. No party motion was identified in the adoption order.
Bullard recommended dismissal for failure to prosecute and treating volunteer-attorney requests as moot. The district judge declined to adopt after receiving new financial information and returned the fee-status issue for reassessment.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 58 days (N = 1).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 1 days (N = 10).
The reviewed assignments included a substantial Social Security referral docket, criminal duty and misdemeanor matters, a miscellaneous discovery proceeding, and general civil referrals. Many Social Security matters ended through stipulated or administrative orders whose text was unavailable, so the sample is not a census.
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 |
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 Minnesota, not for Judge Bullard: 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 | 2,681 | 8.2 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,499 | 5.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 645 | 7.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 525 | 13.3 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 39.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,681 | 8.2 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,636 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,579 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,701 | 5.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,737 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 3,259 | 14.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 8,151 | 21.6 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 Bullard with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Bullard, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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