Jose Rolando Olvera, Jr.
How Judge Olvera rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Olvera
Jose Rolando Olvera, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Olvera received a commission on August 4, 2015.
Judge Olvera's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Olvera, 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
Motions
Opposed motions require a separate proposed order that states the requested relief.
“Opposed motions must: (1) Be in writing. (2) Include briefs or authority and pertinent exhibits; and (3) Come with a separate proposed order granting the relief requested and setting forth information sufficient to communicate the relief granted.”
Conferences
File the joint case management plan at least 14 days before the initial pretrial conference.
“At least 14 days before the initial pretrial conference, counsel MUST file a Joint Case Management Plan,”
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 Olvera decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a Section 504 record-access case, he held that a video could contain information about E.M.’s special-education services and found the complaint sufficient to plead a violation of 34 C.F.R. § 104.36.
“Viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the video could contain information relating to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of special education services for E.M. Thus, Plaintiff has sufficiently pleaded a violation of 34 C.F.R. § 104.36.”
In Osorio Toro and Demakpor, the court adopted recommendations granting immigration-detainee habeas relief in part and ordered the government to stop relying on a specified statutory detention basis.
“the Petition 29 is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part; 15 MOTION to Dismiss petition for writ of habeas corpus DENIED as moot, Respondents are ORDERED to cease using 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1) as a basis to detain Petitioner.”
Procedural preferences
In one summary-judgment case, he adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and granted the motion.
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 42 Report and Recommendations, GRANTED 24 MOTION for Summary Judgment. (Signed by Judge Rolando Olvera)”
After notice of settlement in this case, he ordered the parties to file appropriate documents, including an agreed judgment, within 60 days and warned that he would otherwise dismiss the case on June 10, 2024.
“The parties are instructed to file the appropriate documentation, including an Agreed Judgment, within sixty (60) days. If the parties fail to do so, the Court will enter a dismissal order, sua sponte, June 10, 2024. (Signed by Judge Rolando Olvera)”
In Cervantes Zuniga, he found no clear error, abuse of discretion, or legal error in an unopposed report and recommendation and adopted it.
“Finding no clear error, abuse of discretion, or finding contrary to law, the R&R (Dkt. No. 7) is ADOPTED.”
Cautions
In E.M.'s school-disability suit, Olvera declined to assess the adequacy of the failure-to-notify claim because neither side had substantially briefed it on the motion to dismiss.
“Where a defendant does not address a claim in their motion to dismiss, a district court may decline to address whether the plaintiff's pleading of that claim is adequate. ... Considering neither party has substantially briefed the issue, the Court declines to address the adequacy of Plaintiff's pleadings on the Failure to Notify claim.”
In Cruz, after the plaintiffs did not respond to Wal-Mart's summary-judgment motion and no party objected to the magistrate judge's recommendation, Olvera adopted the recommendation and granted the motion.
“Defendants’ MSJ (Dkt. No. 11) is GRANTED.”
In Villarreal, the court granted dismissal of the county sheriff's department while separately allowing the plaintiff to file an amended complaint, underscoring the importance of naming a legally suable defendant.
“granting 8 MOTION for Leave to File First Amended Complaint. The Clerk of the Court is ORDERED to docket the Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint (Dkt. No. 8-1) as a new entry.”
A post-removal detention challenge filed during the presumptively reasonable six-month period may be premature. In Salokhiddinov, only two months had elapsed, so the court dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
“Because Petitioner is only 2 months into the initial 6-month period of presumptively valid detention, his claim under Zadvydas is premature, and the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider it.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons below, Defendant's MTD is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 11 MOTION for Summary Judgment and Memorandum in Support Thereof, 16 Report and Recommendations. Defendants' MSJ (Dkt. No. 11) is GRANTED. The Clerk of the Court is ORDERED to close the case. (Signed by Judge Rolando Olvera)”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 42 Report and Recommendations, GRANTED 24 MOTION for Summary Judgment. The Clerk of Court is ORDERED to close this case. (Signed by Judge Rolando Olvera)”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 62 Report and Recommendations, 55 MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM pursuant to Rule 8, 12(b)(6) and 12(b)(1) ... Plaintiff's claims against David C. Laird, Claudine O'Carroll, and City of South Padre Island are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 46 Report and Recommendations. The Clerk's Office is hereby ORDERED to close this case.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: granting 4 MOTION to Dismiss , 11 Report and Recommendations ... Willacy County Sheriff's Department terminated.”
“granting 7 MOTION to Strike Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint and Reply to Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Rule 12 Motion to Dismiss”
“granting 8 MOTION for Leave to File First Amended Complaint. The Clerk of the Court is ORDERED to docket the Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint (Dkt. No. 8-1) as a new entry.”
“ORDER ADOPTING MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION re: 30 Report and Recommendations, granting 21 MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM . Petitioner's claims against Defendant Eric Garza are dismissed with prejudice. The Clerk of Court is ordered to close this case.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 90 Report and Recommendations, granting 88 MOTION for Summary Judgment with Brief in Support. The Court DECLINES to issue a certificate of appealability; and the Clerk of Court is ORDERED to close Civil Action 1:18cv80 and Civil Action No. 1:20cv188.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 1 MOTION to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence (2255) as to Criminal Case No. 1:16-cr-956 (Defendant No. 1), 30 MOTION for Summary Judgment , 38 Report and Recommendations. The Court DECLINES to issue a certificate of appealability. The Clerk of the Court is ORDERED to close this case,”
“ORDER striking 62 Motion for Leave to File; striking 63 Motion for Leave to File; adopting Report and Recommendations re 1 Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence (2255). A certificate of appealability shall not issue. The Clerk of the court is hereby Ordered to close this case.”
“The Petition (Dkt. No. 7) is DENIED without prejudice and the MTD (Dkt. No. 6) is GRANTED.”
“ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS re: 16 Report and Recommendations, 13 MOTION for Summary Judgment ... Petitioner's Petition (Dkt. No. 1) is GRANTED in part, and Respondents' MSJ (Dkt. No. 13) is DENIED as moot.”
“Respondents' MSJ (Dkt. No. 13) is DENIED as moot.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 159 days (N = 11).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 208 days (N = 2).
- Qualitative, from the docket record (not a census).
- Recent pending: dominated by 2026 alien-detainee 2241 habeas petitions (Port Isabel SPC / El Valle Detention Facility wardens).
- Civil merits seen: removed first-party property-insurance disputes, premises-liability/PI, product liability (FCA US/GM auto), contract, FCA qui tam, immigration mandamus, and § 2255 motions.
- Criminal docket is substantial (border-district immigration/narcotics).
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Brownsville Division), not for Judge Olvera: 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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