Brian Matthew Morris
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 a tribal-jurisdiction challenge to a Major Crimes Act indictment, Morris found the exhaustion-of-tribal-remedies doctrine limited to civil disputes and declined to extend it to federal criminal prosecutions absent supporting authority -- he wants a defendant to point to a case squarely on point, not an analogy, before he will dismiss an indictment on sovereignty grounds.
“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
On a prisoner civil-rights claim, Morris enforces PLRA exhaustion strictly: partial use of the grievance process (informal plus formal grievance, no warden or director appeal) is not enough, even where the plaintiff claims the process confused him.
“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
When Morris concludes the district court lacks jurisdiction over a removal-related challenge, he does not simply dismiss and leave the plaintiff to refile -- he transfers the case to the appropriate court of appeals under 28 U.S.C. 1631 and preserves interim relief (here, an existing TRO) rather than let a jurisdictional gap harm a party facing imminent removal.
“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: 27 days (N = 1).
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.
Put Judge Morris's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Morris actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Morris's own signed orders and cites them.