John D. Russell
How Judge Russell rules, drawn from 10 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Russell
John David Russell is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Russell received a commission on January 4, 2024.
Judge Russell's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Russell, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Individual Rules of Practice — Criminal Cases ↗
- Individual Rules of Practice — Civil Cases ↗
- Protective Order — Criminal Cases ↗
- Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order ↗
Key rules
Filing
Identify lead trial counsel in the party’s first submission in a civil case.
“This designation must be provided to the Court in the party’s first submission (including in reassigned cases).”
Filing
File a redline with amended or corrected civil submissions.
“Any amended or corrected filing (including but not limited to amended pleadings) shall be filed with a redline showing all differences between the original and revised filing.”
Trial
In a criminal case, deliver final witness and exhibit lists to the clerk at least three business days before trial.
“Each of the parties in a criminal case must, at least three business days before trial, deliver to the Clerk of Court for delivery directly to Chambers: (a) a final and binding list of the witnesses that the party expects to call (other than the defendant), in the likely order of appearance, and (b) a list of the exhibits that the party expects to offer on its direct case.”
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 Russell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a fraudulent-joinder challenge to a non-diverse co-defendant, the judge treats a contingent claim (one that would not accrue until a related claim is resolved) as still colorable for jurisdictional purposes, rather than as evidence of a sham joinder.
“The contingent nature of the negligence claim against BancFirst does not affect the validity of that claim for purposes of determining diversity jurisdiction.”
Procedural preferences
On a state prisoner's habeas jurisdictional claim, the judge distinguishes legal innocence (a claim about where or under whose authority the crime was prosecuted) from factual innocence (a claim about what the petitioner did), applying the actual-innocence exception only to the latter.
“Downey's claim is one of legal innocence, not factual innocence, and the Perkins exception does not apply.”
In a jail civil-rights suit, he granted summary judgment on unexhausted federal claims, then dismissed pending expert motions as moot after all claims were disposed of.
“The Court therefore grants Movants' motions for summary judgment under Rule 56(a); grants summary judgment to Ms. Kelly under Rule 56(f); and dismisses the First Amended Complaint, without prejudice, on all federal claims against all defendants.”
In a collision suit against a motor carrier and its insurers, the judge required facts supporting either a statutory direct action against the insurers or a separate duty of care owed by them. He allowed the plaintiffs to amend after dismissing the insurer claims.
“The plaintiffs do not identify, and the Court is not aware of any authority establishing that a motor carrier’s insurer owes an injured party a duty of care based on the insurance provider’s involvement in the motor carrier’s risk management.”
In a civil damages suit by minors depicted in child pornography, he denied a motion to dismiss that disputed the defendant’s prior guilty plea because the conviction estopped him from denying its essential allegations.
“Mr. Reetz cannot deny the essential allegations of the offense to which he pleaded guilty. Accordingly, Mr. Reetz’s motion to dismiss is denied.”
In a prosecution involving firearm charges, he denied two Second Amendment dismissal motions because existing appellate holdings bound the district court, even while questioning whether the government could independently satisfy the historical-regulation test.
“bind this Court and preclude the dismissal of the Indictment.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Respondent's motion to dismiss [Dkt. 5] is granted; (3) the petition [Dkt. 1] is dismissed with prejudice as barred by the applicable statute of limitations.”
“Because this Court does not have diversity jurisdiction, the Court grants JMLB's motion to remand [Dkt. 29].”
“The Court therefore grants Movants' motions for summary judgment under Rule 56(a);”
“Lastly, based on the dismissal of all claims, the Court dismisses as moot the pending motions to exclude the report and testimony of Ms. Pack's expert witness”
“The Court holds that this case should be transferred to the Southern District of Iowa.”
“IT IS ORDERED that (1) Respondent’s motion to dismiss [Dkt. 6] is granted; (2) Harjo’s petition [Dkt. 1] is construed as an unauthorized sec- ond or successive petition and is dismissed, without prejudice, for lack of ju- risdiction;”
“The insurance defendants’ motion to dismiss [Dkt. 9] is granted. The plaintiffs are granted leave to amend and have until April 15, 2025, to do so.”
“The motion to proceed in forma pauperis is granted.”
“Ms. Freeman’s motion to dismiss [Dkt. 15] is granted.”
“The motion to dismiss filed by Charles Schwab and Ms. Johnmeyer [Dkt. 20] is granted.”
“CSS’s motion to dismiss [Dkt. 24] is granted.”
“The motions to dismiss filed by Ms. Stringer [Dkt. 25], Ms. Banks [Dkt. 35] and Mr. Hoenshell [Dkt. 37] are granted.”
“The motions to strike Ms. Stephens’s supplemental documents [Dkts. 45, 46, 52] are denied;”
“All remaining pending motions [Dkts. 54, 56, 58, 60] are denied as moot.”
“Mr. Reetz cannot deny the essential allegations of the offense to which he pleaded guilty. Accordingly, Mr. Reetz’s motion to dismiss is denied.”
“Mr. Gaskey’s motions to dismiss must be and are DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- His reviewed cases since taking the bench in January 2024 span civil-rights and habeas prisoner petitions, insurance and contract disputes, employment and wage-and-hour matters, Social Security appeals, federal criminal prosecutions, and a tribal-jurisdiction dispute inherited by reassignment.
- The sampled docket entries supply 31 classified motions across 17 distinct cases, including at least one pending matter.
- This partial set does not describe his entire caseload.
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 | 2 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 2 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2025 | 20 | 7 |
| Mar 2025 | 57 | 8 |
| Sep 2024 | 50 | 17 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 16 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, not for Judge Russell: 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 | 525 | 7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 112 | 5.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 401 | 7.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 9 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 3 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 525 | 7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 491 | 7.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 487 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 526 | 13.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 481 | 11.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 563 | 10.8 months |
| Sep 2019 | 544 | 9.8 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 Russell with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Russell, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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