Ivan D. Davis
How Judge Davis rules, drawn from 2 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Davis
Ivan D. Davis has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia since 2008. Before joining the bench, he worked in the Federal Public Defender’s office for the district and became First Assistant Federal Public Defender.
Judge Davis's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Davis'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 Davis decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Davis v. Colvin, he recommended affirming the denial of Social Security benefits. The district judge adopted his recommendation after finding that the administrative decision applied the proper legal standard and was supported by substantial evidence.
“the Administrative Law Judge's decision is supported by substantial evidence and applies the proper legal standard.”
Procedural preferences
In Parizer v. AJP Educational Foundation, Davis denied a motion for an evidence preservation status conference as premature because discovery had not begun and the court had not issued a scheduling order.
“the Motion is DENIED as premature. Discovery has not commenced in this matter, nor has this Court issued a scheduling order. Accordingly, a status conference regarding the preservation of potentially relevant evidence and Defendants' future discovery obligations is premature. Such an order from the Court would be based upon information that is speculative at best and irrelevant at worst.”
In the Walgreens administrative subpoena matter, Davis denied a standalone motion to compel the DEA to return documents for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and a cause of action. The district judge affirmed his order.
“there is no subject matter jurisdiction to hear the request and no cause of action upon which to compel the Drug Enforcement Administration to return documents.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court affirms Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis' Order denying Walgreens' Motion to Compel the Return of Privileged Material. ... In Judge Davis' Order, the court found that 'there is no subject matter jurisdiction to hear the request and no cause of action upon which to compel the Drug Enforcement Administration to return documents.'”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 19) is GRANTED ... Accordingly, the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration decision to deny Social Security supplemental income is AFFIRMED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 12) is DENIED”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Remand (Doc. 13) is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
No counted nature-of-suit distribution; the list above is the observed mix from the referral enumeration. Durations are the terminated civil cases in that set.
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 | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 Eastern District of Virginia, not for Judge Davis: 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 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,204 | 5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,299 | 4.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 493 | 8.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 15 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,613 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,194 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,134 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,152 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,860 | 6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,267 | 5.9 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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