Alice R. Senechal
How Judge Senechal rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Senechal
Alice R. Senechal has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of North Dakota since 1990 and moved to the full-time Fargo position in 2015. She previously clerked for a federal district judge and practiced law in North Dakota. She earned degrees from North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota Law School.
Judge Senechal's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Senechal'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).
How Judge Senechal decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In one civil-rights case, Senechal recommended dismissal on immunity and jurisdiction grounds, and the district judge adopted the recommendation.
“The motions to dismiss (Doc. 58; Doc. 63; Doc. 68) are GRANTED.”
Cautions
In Corman v. Schweitzer, she recommended denying the plaintiff's motion for injunctive relief because it sought relief against nonparties and rested on claims outside the surviving complaint; the district court adopted the recommendation.
“Corman’s motion for injunctive relief is DENIED.”
In one suppression recommendation, she found that the use of license-plate reader data did not amount to a Fourth Amendment search under then-current case law; the district judge adopted her analysis.
“Under current case law, law enforcement’s use of ALPR data is not a search under the Fourth Amendment.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The motions to dismiss (Doc. 58; Doc. 63; Doc. 68) are GRANTED.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the respondent’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED. Vogt’s habeas petition is DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“Corman’s motion for injunctive relief is DENIED.”
In a pro se Section 1983 case proceeding under 28 U.S.C. 1915, Senechal first screened the complaint and recommended that Olson proceed on his excessive-force claim if he identified the three deputy defendants by name. After Olson failed to amend or identify them by the extended deadline, she issued a second report and recommendation proposing dismissal, which Judge Welte adopted: 'Olson's complaint (Doc. 16) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.' This screening and case-management disposition did not resolve a party motion.
“This court, for the reasons stated herein, RECOMMENDS the district judge DENY Lawrence’s second motion to suppress evidence.”
“For the reasons discussed above, this court recommends the district judge find the motion for a Franks hearing, (Doc. 78), moot, deny Griffien’s motion to suppress, (Doc. 76), and deny his motion to dismiss, (Doc. 78).”
“The Jacobsens’ motion for a temporary lease, (Doc. 21), should be DENIED. 5 Case 3:23-cv-00188-DMT-ARS Document 48 Filed 04/29/24 Page 6 of 6”
“this court recommends the motion to suppress evidence seized during the Durango search, (Doc. 315), be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Social Security appeals run roughly 5-12 months; pro se screening/civil-rights cases terminate fast (weeks to a couple of months). Small recency sample; not a representative caseload distribution.
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 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 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 North Dakota, not for Judge Senechal: 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 | 200 | 8.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 5 | not reported |
| Closed before pretrial | 188 | 8.5 months |
| Closed during trial | 7 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 200 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 186 | 11.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 169 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2022 | 190 | 13.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 202 | 11.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 234 | 11 months |
| Sep 2019 | 229 | 10.9 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).
Draft for Judge Senechal with the record in hand
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