Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.
How Judge Reyes rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Reyes
Ramon Ernesto Reyes, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Reyes received a commission on November 13, 2023.
Judge Reyes's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Reyes, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Deliver one courtesy copy of every briefed motion and of ECF submissions at least 50 pages long.
“Parties shall deliver to chambers one (1) courtesy hard copy of all briefed motions regardless of length (see Rule IV) and any other written submissions filed on ECF that are fifty (50) pages in length or more, including any exhibits or attachments.”
Motions
In cases other than the listed exceptions, request a pre-motion conference before motions to stay, remand, or compel arbitration.
“In all other cases, a party must request a pre-motion conference before filing: a) Any motions pursuant to Rules 12, 19-21, 23-25, and 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; b) Motions to stay; c) Motions to remand to state court; and d) Motions to compel arbitration;”
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 10, 2026).
How Judge Reyes 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. Perez Baten, Reyes denied a motion to dismiss an illegal-reentry indictment on equal-protection grounds. He found the argument foreclosed by binding Second Circuit precedent in Suquilanda.
“Bound by Suquilanda, the Court denies Defendant's motion to dismiss. ... '[D]istrict courts are bound to follow controlling Second Circuit precedent unless that precedent is overruled or reversed.'”
In Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance v. Citimortgage, Reyes recommended denying a second default-judgment motion because the movant had not mailed the papers to the defaulting defendants' last known addresses as Local Rule 55.2(c) required. The cited document records a recommendation, not its adoption.
“Local Rule 55.2(c) is construed strictly, and lack of compliance alone frequently results in denial of the default judgment motion. ... I respectfully recommend that the Motion be denied in its entirety.”
In Ramos Espinoza v. Maldonado, he granted a motion to enforce a bond-hearing order after finding that the immigration judge had not considered alternatives to detention, and ordered the petitioner released without conditions.
“the mere lack of consideration of alternatives to detention merits a grant of Ramos Espinoza’s motion to enforce the March 6 Order.”
In Johnson v. County of Nassau, he allowed the section 1985 conspiracy claim to survive summary judgment because Johnson’s specific testimony about racial animus and evidence suggesting a possible cover-up created disputed facts, though he described the showing as barely sufficient.
“those claims are specific and non-conclusory enough—even if barely so— to create a genuine dispute of material fact”
In Gonzalez Olivier’s immigration-detention case, Reyes held that the government needed an individualized danger and flight-risk decision before detaining a previously paroled asylum seeker living in the United States. He ordered release and required notice and a hearing before renewed detention.
“Accordingly, Respondents violated Petitioner’s due process rights when ICE detained him without first making an individualized determination as to his dangerousness and flight risk.”
Procedural preferences
In Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. Safe Chain Solutions LLC, he recommended striking the defendant’s answer and entering default on liability after a year of willful discovery noncompliance, finding that lesser sanctions would not induce compliance.
“the Court concludes that no lesser sanction would induce Abdullaev's compliance and that a severe sanction is necessary to serve the deterrence rationale justifying sanctions.”
In Wentworth v. Hedson, he denied the plaintiffs’ Rule 41(a)(2) dismissal request because it would have eliminated jurisdiction over the defendant’s surviving counterclaims.
“Because dismissal of the Wentworths’ claim would destroy the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction over Hedson’s counterclaims, the Court is precluded from dismissing the Wentworths’ claim under Rule 41(a)(2).”
In Checo v. Damian Family Care Centers, Inc., he limited Dr. Smith-Harris’s trial testimony to the plaintiff’s diagnosis, treatment, and admissions the defendant personally made to her.
“Dr. Smith-Harris’ testimony will be limited to Checo’s diagnosis and treatment, and any admissions about the alleged sexual assault that he personally made to Dr. Smith-Harris.”
Cautions
Adverse rulings and perceived delay do not establish judicial bias. A recusal motion should identify a concrete extrajudicial source or facts that would cause a fully informed, disinterested observer to doubt impartiality.
“Because plaintiff fails to demonstrate an extrajudicial basis for recusal, and no objective, disinterested observer would conclude that the Court’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned, Dejoie’s motion for recusal is denied.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Wentworths' motion for voluntary dismissal is denied. SO ORDERED.”
“For the reasons discussed herein, the motion is denied.”
“On August 12, 2014, Judge Reyes issued his R&R, recommending that Defendants' motion be granted. ... Plaintiff's objections are OVERRULED and the R&R is ADOPTED IN FULL.”
“the Court grants Defendants' motion for summary judgment and denies Plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment”
“the court ADOPTS the R&R as modified, and GRANTS Plaintiffs motion for default judgment.”
“Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. issued a Report and Recommendation (‘R&R’), recommending ‘that Ryeco's motion for default judgment be granted ...’ ... Accordingly, the Court ADOPTS the R&R”
“On August 20, 2021, Magistrate Judge Reyes recommended (1) denying default judgment on all of Hitrinov's and Empire's breach of contract claims and dismissing those claims; and (2) granting Hitrinov's and Empire's libel claim and awarding them $2,436,050. ... the Court adopts in full Magistrate Judge Reyes's thorough and well-reasoned ... Report & Recommendation, granting in part and denying in part ... Motion for Default Judgment.”
“for the reasons set forth herein, I respectfully recommend that the Motion be denied in its entirety.”
“I respectfully recommend that the Court grant Gilead's motion for case ending sanctions and strike Abdullaev's answer and enter default against him.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment is DENIED.”
“In an Opinion dated May 10, 2006, Judge Reyes responded to each of those assertions and convincingly established why they were without merit and denied the motion.”
“For the reasons set forth above, I respectfully recommend that Braccia's motion to vacate entry of default be denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 7.5 days (N = 10).
- A 21-case sample of Judge Reyes's district-court assignments, all filed in 2026 and mostly still pending, is dominated by a surge of alien-detainee habeas petitions.
- Other matters include contract, fraud and lending, FLSA labor, consumer credit, securities, Social Security, ADA civil-rights, and criminal cases.
- The few terminations were fast and procedural: habeas relief in Gomez-Gomez after about eight days, a voluntary dismissal in Kovaleski after 21 days, and termination of S.G. v. Mullin after about five days.
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 | 23 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 34 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 23 | 34 |
| Sep 2025 | 16 | 30 |
| Mar 2025 | 10 | 27 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 24 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 29 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 2 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2021 | 3 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 2 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 2 | 2 |
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 Eastern District of New York, not for Judge Reyes: 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 | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,485 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 5,022 | 6.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 835 | 13.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 50 | 49.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,879 | 5.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 7,746 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2022 | 7,588 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,709 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,062 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 6,858 | 8.1 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 Reyes with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Reyes, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Reyes's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace