Brian Matthew Morris
How Judge Morris rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Morris
Brian Matthew Morris is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Morris received a commission on December 17, 2013.
Judge Morris's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Morris'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).
- Standing Order BMM-17: Unsealing of Court Records ↗
- Standing Order BMM-06: Prison Electronic Filing Project ↗
- Standing Order BMM-13: Appointment of Counsel and Access to Confidential Documents in Certain Criminal Cases ↗
- Standing Order DLC-51: General Consent to Magistrate Judge in Social Security Cases ↗
- Standing Order BMM-27: Retroactive Application of Amendment 821 ↗
How Judge Morris 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. King, Morris declined to dismiss indictment counts on the theory that the government had to exhaust tribal remedies first. He found no authority extending that civil-dispute doctrine to criminal charges under the Major Crimes Act or other generally applicable federal laws.
“King fails to cite to, and the Court fails to locate, any authority supporting the proposition that the tribal exhaustion requirement applies to criminal actions brought pursuant to the MCA or pursuant to other federal laws of general, non-territorial applicability.”
Procedural preferences
In Guillen v. Johnson, Morris granted defendants summary judgment on PLRA exhaustion grounds because Guillen filed informal and formal grievances but did not complete the required appeals to the warden and corrections director before suing.
“Guillen failed to exhaust his administrative procedure before filing his lawsuit. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.”
Cautions
In Wheeler v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Morris found that a challenge tied to a final removal order belonged in the court of appeals. He transferred the petition to the Ninth Circuit and kept the temporary restraining order in effect during the proceedings.
“Given the short time-period for filing a petition for review attacking his final administrative order of removal, the interests of justice would be served by an immediate transfer of Wheeler's petition to the Ninth Circuit.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Government's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 5) is DENIED as moot.”
“King's motion to dismiss (Doc. 48) is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED. (Doc. 25.)”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is DISMISSED. (Doc. 32.)”
“Defendant BPD's Motion to Dismiss (14) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Officer Ogden's Motion to Dismiss (18) is GRANTED in part.”
“Defendant Officer's Motion to Dismiss (20) is GRANTED.”
“Upon the motion of the United States of America, and for good cause shown, the indictment is dismissed without prejudice.”
“The Court denies Rutherford's motion for partial summary judgment on his UTPA claim (Doc. 106).”
“HCSC's Motion to Stay Briefing on Plaintiff Johnny Rutherford's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is DENIED as moot.”
“HCSC's Motion for Reconsideration of Class Certification (Doc. 124) is GRANTED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for Remand (Doc. 8) is GRANTED.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Plaintiffs' 13 Motion to Remand is GRANTED and this case is to be remanded to the Montana 8th Judicial Court, Cascade County.”
“The Court DENIES Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction. (Doc. 70.)”
“The Court DENIES Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 88.)”
“The Court DENIES Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 91.)”
“Contway accordingly has established the Winter elements. A preliminary injunction proves warranted at this time.”
“Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings 33 is GRANTED with respect to Counts 7,8,9,15,16 and 20. Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is DENIED with respect to all of the other Counts. Counts 7,8,9,15, and 16 is DISMISSED without prejudice. Count 20 is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“Corpron's motion to compel and motion for sanctions are GRANTED, as described above. (Docs. 25 and 32.) The Court shall at trial instruct the jury that it may infer that the spoiled or destroyed evidence described in this Order would have been unfavorable to Defendants.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 5 days (N = 5).
- The judge's enumerated dockets span federal criminal prosecutions (many arising on Montana's Indian reservations), prisoner civil-rights suits, insurance and contract removals, and habeas matters, consistent with his role as Chief Judge sitting in Great Falls.
- Several sampled cases were referred to a magistrate judge for pretrial management and returned to Morris only for dispositive rulings after a party withheld consent to magistrate jurisdiction.
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 | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 14 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 10 |
| Mar 2024 | 12 | 7 |
| Sep 2023 | 17 | 7 |
| Mar 2023 | 3 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 11 | 5 |
| Sep 2021 | 3 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 9 | 2 |
| Sep 2020 | 13 | 3 |
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 Montana, not for Judge Morris: 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 | 430 | 9.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 186 | 6.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 137 | 8.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 103 | 14.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 4 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 430 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 385 | 10.9 months |
| Sep 2023 | 363 | 11.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 408 | 11.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 442 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 384 | 9.1 months |
| Sep 2019 | 388 | 10.6 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 Morris with the record in hand
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