Nicholas J. Ganjei
How Judge Ganjei rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Ganjei
Nicholas Jon Ganjei is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Ganjei received a commission on March 10, 2026.
Judge Ganjei's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Ganjei, 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
Serve the procedures and scheduling and disclosure order with the summons and complaint or removal papers.
“When serving the summons and complaint or removal papers, Plaintiff must serve these procedures together with the Court’s Order for Scheduling Conference and Disclosure of Interested Persons.”
Motions
Confer in good faith on disputed relief, including dispositive motions, and include a conference certificate or risk the motion being stricken.
“Make serious, timely, good faith efforts to seek agreement on all disputed matters and requests for relief, including dispositive motions. The Court may strike motions that do not include a certificate of conference.”
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 8, 2026).
How Judge Ganjei decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an immigration-detention habeas case, he treated the controlling circuit decision as resolving the statutory and constitutional challenges to mandatory detention for an applicant for admission during removal proceedings. A party seeking a different result would need to distinguish that binding posture rather than repeat the same due-process theory.
“This Court held that for aliens such as Petitioner, pre-removal-order detention is both demanded by the Immigration and Nationality Act and a constitutionally permissible part of the removal process.”
In a dispute over a preliminary injunction preserving real property, he declined to authorize immediate execution because a forced sale would change the status quo before trial.
“Allowing Plaintiffs to seek execution now would not preserve the status quo.”
In Fornesa, Ganjei adopted dismissal of a Section 1983 claim against an insurer with prejudice after finding that the plaintiff alleged no facts showing that any defendant was a state actor.
“Neither the Complaint nor Plaintiff’s objections, Doc. 49, allege facts showing otherwise.”
Procedural preferences
When reviewing a magistrate judge's dispositive recommendation, he conducts de novo review of specific objections but does not treat general, frivolous, or conclusory objections as requiring separate analysis. In the reviewed adoption orders, he compared the objections to the pleadings and governing law before adopting the recommendations.
“The district court need not consider general, frivolous, or conclusory objections to a Report and Recommendation.”
In Daly City Serramonte Center v. Regal Cinemas, he rejected the landlord's service challenge because it had not objected in the bankruptcy court; he also found that the debtor's notices gave the landlord actual notice.
“However, this argument fails because Landlord ‘forfeited its arguments regarding the validity of service or the adequacy of the Bankruptcy Court’s procedures by failing to raise a timely objection in that court.’ Espinosa, 559 U.S. at 275; see Doc. 7 at 30–40. Even if the argument were not forfeited, the Court would hold that Gypsum was satisfied.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. All other pending motions are DENIED AS MOOT. This case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant Brent Coon’s Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice is GRANTED IN PART; Plaintiff’s claims against Brent Coon are DISMISSED WITHOJUT PREJUDICE.”
“As such, Respondent’s Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED, and the Petition for writ of habeas corpus is DENIED. This action is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed in forma pauperis is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. Doc. 43. This case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“motion for summary judgment is GRANTED,”
“petition for writ of habeas corpus is DENIED.”
The court adopted an unopposed recommendation and dismissed the case without prejudice after missed service and address requirements.
“Union Pacific’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“The Court GRANTS the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss, Docs. 71, 74, 85, in part and DENIES them in part.”
“The Court DENIES the Motion to Strike the Plaintiffs’ Response brief.”
“DENIES those Defendants’ Motion to Defer, Doc. 105, and Motion to Strike, Doc. 113, as moot.”
“The Court hereby GRANTS the Fort Bend Defendants’ Unopposed Motion for Leave to File a Sur-Reply. Doc. 125.”
“For these reasons, Defendant’s motion to join is DENIED, Plaintiff’s motion to modify the preliminary injunction, Doc. 37, is DENIED, and Defendant’s motion to stay, Doc. 51, is DENIED.”
“The parties’ joint request for a status conference to discuss these motions, Doc. 65, is denied as moot.”
“For these reasons, the bankruptcy court’s order denying Landlord’s motion to revoke is AFFIRMED.”
“Plaintiff’s application to proceed without prepaying fees or costs is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The early Houston calendar is heavily weighted toward immigration-detention habeas petitions, with additional employment, consumer-credit, insurance, trade-secret, real-property, contract, and prisoner civil-rights matters. Many matters were newly filed or inherited on commission and remained pending at the review date.
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 | 1 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 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 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, not for Judge Ganjei: 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 | 5,742 | 7.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 2,442 | 6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,371 | 7.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 871 | 11.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 58 | 31.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 5,742 | 7.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 5,086 | 7.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 4,762 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 4,595 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 4,745 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2020 | 5,009 | 8.1 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,233 | 7.5 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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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Ganjei, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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