Tony N. Leung
How Judge Leung decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On prisoner civil suits attacking a still-valid conviction or sentence, Leung applies the Heck v. Humphrey favorable-termination bar at the 1915A screening stage: if a judgment for the plaintiff would necessarily imply the conviction or sentence is invalid, and the plaintiff cannot show it was already invalidated, the complaint is recommended dismissed without reaching the merits -- and he treats claims against federal officials as Bivens (not 1983) claims, then bars them by absolute prosecutorial immunity and the no-Bivens-against-a-federal-agency rule.
“Construed as including civil claims, Spencer's Complaint fails under the doctrine announced in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994). ... Prosecutors are absolutely immune from civil suits for damages based on actions they take to prosecute a case.”
Leung's R&Rs are reliably adopted: across five district-judge orders reviewed here (authored by four different Article III judges -- Frank, Brasel, Wright, Tostrud), every Leung R&R was adopted or accepted, whether on clear-error review (no objection) or de novo review (objection overruled). This is a high recommendation-to-adoption signal, though N is small.
“Finding no clear error, and based on all the files, records, and proceedings ... The Report and Recommendation [ECF No. 16] is ACCEPTED”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. [95]) is GRANTED.”
“Shawn Ray Brtek's Motion to Suppress Tangible Evidence & Statements Due to Fourth Amendment Violations (Doc. No. [33]) is DENIED.”
“Defendant Daniel Basile's motion to dismiss, (Dkt. 29), is GRANTED.”
“Petitioner's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241 [ECF No. 1] is DENIED; and 3. The action is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
District Judge Nancy E. Brasel accepted Magistrate Judge Leung's December 22, 2020 recommendation. This is a 28 U.S.C. 1915A prisoner-complaint screening dismissal rather than a ruling on a party motion. The plaintiff (a federal prisoner) objected; Brasel conducted de novo review and accepted the recommendation, dismissing the complaint without prejudice. Leung and Brasel held the civil claims barred by Heck v. Humphrey (a judgment for the plaintiff would imply his conviction or sentence were invalid), alternatively barred by absolute prosecutorial immunity and the rule that a Bivens claim cannot run against a federal agency; and any habeas theory was barred because his 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion had already been denied by the sentencing court.
“For the reasons set forth below, the Court recommends that Plaintiff's motion for sanctions be granted.”
“Defendant's Motion to Compel Discovery Responses, ECF No. 27, is GRANTED.”
“This matter is before the Court, United States Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung, on Dakota County's Motion to Compel Discovery Against Plaintiff (ECF No. 30) and the Galloway Defendants' Joint Motion to Compel Discovery Against Plaintiff (ECF No. 36). For the reasons stated below, the Court grants both motions.”
“Plaintiff's request for leave to file a motion to reconsider (ECF No. 201) is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion to Suppress Search and Seizure Evidence (Doc. No. [23]) is DENIED.”
“Defendant Humberto Rangel-Torres's Motion to Suppress All Identifications of Defendant Obtained Through Unconstitutional Identification Procedures (ECF No. 48) be DENIED”
“The Court ADOPTS, as modified above, the Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung dated April 14, 2015 [Docket No. 35]. 2. Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence [Docket No. 18] is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Leung-assigned consent dockets confirmed via the docket records (sampled through 2026-07-04, not exhaustive): consumer-credit/FDCPA matters (Broberg v. Debt Arbitrators 480; Hupperts v. APOGEE Retail 480, a class settlement) and a large, ongoing consent Social Security appeals cohort running from 2011 through 2025 (Berryhill/Colvin/Dudek-era appeals). His far larger referral workload (captioned -TNL under a district judge) spans criminal suppression (US v. Brtek), prisoner/Bivens screening (Spencer v. DOJ), 2241 and 2254 habeas (Gallegos v. Rardin; Ward v. Gandhi), civil-rights MSJ (Benson v. Piper), and pro se civil dismissals (Gregg v. Basile) -- all surfaced in the published orders. Not exhaustive; durations not tabulated in this thin sample.
Put Judge Leung's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Leung actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Leung's own signed orders and cites them.