Susan M. Bazis
How Judge Bazis rules, drawn from 12 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bazis
Susan Mason Bazis is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Bazis received a commission on April 10, 2024.
Judge Bazis's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Bazis'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 Bazis 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. Gatkuoth, Bazis recommended denying suppression after an evidentiary hearing because the defendant had not established standing to challenge a home search. She found his overnight guest witness was not credible; the district judge agreed on de novo review and adopted her recommendation.
“In her written Findings and Recommendation, Judge Bazis concluded that Kuany's testimony was not credible. ... Upon de novo review, the Court agrees with Judge Bazis that Mr. Kuany's testimony was not sufficiently credible to establish that the Defendant had standing to challenge the search based on his claim that he was an overnight guest.”
In United States v. Gatkuoth, Bazis recommended denying a motion to dismiss a felon-in-possession charge, including the defendant’s Second Amendment challenge. District Judge Buescher adopted her recommendation and agreed with her analysis of that challenge.
“The Court also agrees with Judge Bazis’s assessment of Gatkuoth’s Second Amendment challenge.”
In United States v. Robles Rodriguez, Bazis adopted a recommendation to dismiss the charges without prejudice after finding that the defendant’s deportation had infringed his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. She rejected his request for dismissal with prejudice.
“The Court finds dismissal without prejudice to be the appropriate remedy here.”
Procedural preferences
In Vogele v. Bisignano, Bazis granted the Commissioner’s unopposed motion to reverse and remand the disability appeal under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
“Defendant's Unopposed Motion to Reverse and Remand pursuant to Sentence Four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (Filing No. 13) is granted.”
Cautions
In the drug-pricing injunction case, the court denied interim relief because the feared conflict between state and federal requirements and the claimed harm had not yet been shown to be imminent.
“The Court cannot issue a preliminary injunction based on hypotheticals or speculation”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“After reviewing the matter, the Court overrules Gatkuoth's objection, adopts Judge Bazis's Findings and Recommendation in its entirety, and denies Gatkuoth's Motion to Suppress.”
“Judge Bazis's Findings and Recommendation, Filing 119, is adopted in its entirety; ... Gatkuoth's Motion to Dismiss, Filing 108, is denied; and ... Gatkuoth's Superseding Motion to Suppress, Filing 120, is denied.”
Bazis's OWN signed DISTRICT-era Memorandum and Order (signature 'Susan M. Bazis, United States District Judge'). On de novo review with no objections, adopts the magistrate judge's Findings & Recommendation on Plea of Guilty (Filing 102), finds the plea knowing/intelligent/voluntary with a factual basis, accepts the plea, finds defendant guilty, and defers acceptance of any plea agreement until PSR review. Rules on no contested party motion; counts as an order read, not toward motion stats.
Bazis's OWN signed DISTRICT-era Order accepting a guilty plea: on de novo review with no objections, adopts the magistrate judge's Findings & Recommendation on Plea of Guilty (Filing 30), accepts the plea, finds defendant guilty. Rules on no contested party motion; counts as an order read, not toward motion stats.
Bazis's OWN signed MAGISTRATE-era sua sponte recusal under 28 U.S.C. 455(a): after reviewing the pretrial services report and confirmations at the Stuart detention hearing, she recused herself and referred the file to the Chief Judge for reassignment to a different magistrate judge. Rules on no party motion (court's own motion); counts as an order read, not toward motion stats. Useful signal that she will self-recuse on a 455(a) appearance-of-partiality concern.
“The Magistrate Judge's Findings, Recommendation, and Order (Filing No. 28) is adopted. ... The defendant's Motion to Dismiss or Compel Election of Charge (Filing No. 23) is denied.”
“The Magistrate Judge's Findings, Recommendation and Order (Filing No. 229) as it pertains to Defendants' motion to dismiss (Filing No. 157; Filing No. 163) is accepted. ... Defendants' motion to dismiss (Filing No. 157; Filing No. 163) is denied.”
“The Magistrate Judge's Findings and Recommendation (Filing No. 84) is adopted in its entirety. ... Counts I, II, and III, and the Forfeiture Allegation, as they pertain to Defendant Alejandro Robles Rodriguez, are dismissed without prejudice.”
“The Magistrate Judge's Findings and Recommendation (Filing No. 137) is accepted in its entirety. ... Defendant's motions to suppress (Filing No. 87, Filing No. 107; Filing No. 110) ... are denied.”
“Defendant's motions to suppress (Filing No. 87, Filing No. 107; Filing No. 110) and pro se motion to dismiss (Filing No. 113) are denied.”
“Having reviewed the record, and upon hearing the matter, the Court will grant the Motion for Preliminary Injunction and deny JDT's Motion for Contempt Sanctions.”
“Defendant's partial Motion to Dismiss (Filing No. 5) is denied as moot.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Filing No. 41) is granted.”
“The court has reviewed the magistrate judge's order, and it is not clearly erroneous. Plaintiff's motion is denied.”
“The Motion for Dismissal (Filing No. 9) is granted.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment (Filing No. 14) is denied as moot.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 701 days (N = 4).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 48 days (N = 1).
- Bazis-assigned dockets span two distinct pools.
- From her 2017-2024 magistrate tenure: consent-jurisdiction (636(c)) civil cases across employment/ADA, contract, trade secrets, insurance, and motor-vehicle/personal-injury matters, plus same-day search-warrant matters, and, her largest recurring caseload, Social Security disability appeals she decided directly to final judgment.
- Since her 2024 elevation to the district bench: a mix of her own directly-authored civil and criminal rulings (no magistrate referral), orders adopting other magistrates' Findings & Recommendations (both in Social Security appeals and in criminal suppression/dismissal motions), and continuing Social Security appeals and Equal Access to Justice Act fee petitions in cases the government elects to remand rather than litigate.
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 | 67 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 67 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 49 | 10 |
| Mar 2025 | 36 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 5 |
| 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 Nebraska, not for Judge Bazis: 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 | 734 | 5.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 210 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 506 | 6.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 13 | 27.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 5 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 734 | 5.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 522 | 7.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 467 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 667 | 5.2 months |
| Sep 2021 | 588 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2020 | 508 | 8 months |
| Sep 2019 | 492 | 8.6 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).
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