gno.law
John A. Houston
Work of Federal Government · source

John A. Houston

District judge · Superior Court of Southern District of California County · 2005–2026

Judge, District Court, S.D. California 2003–

D+
99% — 505.5 of 513 orders sound, per qwen3.8-27b; in the top 68% of 51 graded judges

On the assumption that the model is right — qwen3.8-27b's verdicts on a court's own orders matched a later appeal 76% of the time (104 of 136), graded on a curve: A is the top fifth of the judges graded under this model, F the bottom fifth; ++ / + / − / −− within the band. How the grade is made.

98cases reviewed on appeal
536opinions authored
551panels sat on (not as author)
23%reversed, in whole or part, of 81 merits decisions

Outcomes on appeal

affirmed 62 reversed in part 8 reversed 7 vacated 4 remanded 2 dismissed 2

The Ninth Circuit's later rulings on their dockets

affirmed 3 reversed in part 2 vacated 1

Each Ninth Circuit opinion that names a docket this judge wrote an order on, by its outcome; the ruling it reviewed is not always the order in the record. The order's page links the opinion.

Areas

criminal 54 civil 41 delinquency 3

By year: 2018 12 · 2011 10 · 2019 9 · 2010 9 · 2020 8 · 2017 8 · 2023 5 · 2016 5 · 2022 4 · 2021 4 · 2013 3 · 2009 3 · 2008 3 · 2007 3 · 2026 2 · 2025 2 · 2012 2 · 2006 2 · 2024 1 · 2015 1 · 2014 1 · 2005 1 ·

Analysis

No analyses yet. When they exist, this shows counts of the model's findings across this judge's reviewed cases — with the court's own dispositions beside them, and only from 10 cases.

Cases

  1. United States v. McFarland 24-4850 · 2026-08-31 · criminal · affirmed
  2. United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez 25-2536 · 2026-03-26 · criminal · affirmed
  3. Raul Arellano v. Harmony Melton 22-55072 · 2024-02-08 · civil · affirmed
  4. United States v. Padilla 23-425 · 2023-11-22 · criminal · affirmed
  5. United States v. Fidel Villarreal 22-50067 · 2023-11-21 · criminal · affirmed
  6. United States v. Jimenez 23-773 · 2023-08-31 · criminal · affirmed
  7. I. Perez v. United States 21-55318 · 2023-06-02 · civil · affirmed
  8. Kenneth Gardner v. Kilolo Kijakazi 19-55044 · 2022-05-17 · civil · affirmed
  9. United States v. Tyrone Duren 20-50215 · 2022-02-18 · criminal · affirmed
  10. Ayse Sen v. Amzn 20-55857 · 2021-12-21 · civil · affirmed
  11. Charles Allen v. J. Cardenas 20-55788 · 2021-08-26 · civil · affirmed
  12. United States v. Pedro Ventura Arroyo 20-50138 · 2021-06-14 · criminal · affirmed
  13. United States v. Alexandro Virgen 20-50153 · 2021-03-25 · criminal · affirmed
  14. United States v. Coleman Payne 19-50159 · 2020-12-08 · criminal · affirmed
  15. Jacquelyn McGee v. S-L Snacks National, LLC 17-55577 · 2020-12-04 · civil · affirmed
  16. United States v. Robert Heizelman 19-50346 · 2020-08-27 · criminal · affirmed
  17. Nathaniel Gann v. Ralph Diaz 17-55316 · 2020-04-20 · civil · affirmed
  18. United States v. Tony Brown 16-50495 · 2020-01-15 · civil · affirmed
  19. United States v. Maria Acosta 18-50351 · 2019-11-26 · criminal · affirmed
  20. United States v. Mario Buenrostro-Lopez 18-50273 · 2019-10-25 · civil · affirmed
  21. United States v. Arian Cebreros 18-50043 · 2019-10-03 · criminal · affirmed
  22. Howe Investments Ltd. v. Quarles & Brady LLP 17-55483 · 2019-02-13 · civil · affirmed
  23. Shavonda Hawkins v. Advancepierre Foods 16-56697 · 2018-08-10 · civil · affirmed
  24. Nathan Smith v. Sherry Pennywell 16-56195 · 2018-07-18 · civil · affirmed
  25. United States v. Flora Espino 16-50344 · 2018-06-18 · criminal · affirmed