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 reviewed on appeal (every role)

  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. Willie Grant v. Gary Swarthout 22-55291 · 2025-09-23 · criminal · vacated
  4. Myles v. County of San Diego 23-3198 · 2025-05-12 · civil · reversed in part
  5. Raul Arellano v. Harmony Melton 22-55072 · 2024-02-08 · civil · affirmed
  6. United States v. Padilla 23-425 · 2023-11-22 · criminal · affirmed
  7. United States v. Fidel Villarreal 22-50067 · 2023-11-21 · criminal · affirmed
  8. United States v. Jimenez 23-773 · 2023-08-31 · criminal · affirmed
  9. I. Perez v. United States 21-55318 · 2023-06-02 · civil · affirmed
  10. Enrique Lozano v. Julio Yee Cabrera 22-55273 · 2023-03-07 · civil · reversed in part
  11. KURT MICHAELS V. RON DAVIS 15-99005 · 2022-10-18 · criminal
  12. Marcus Briceno v. Blake Williams 21-55624 · 2022-05-20 · civil
  13. Kenneth Gardner v. Kilolo Kijakazi 19-55044 · 2022-05-17 · civil · affirmed
  14. United States v. Tyrone Duren 20-50215 · 2022-02-18 · criminal · affirmed
  15. Ayse Sen v. Amzn 20-55857 · 2021-12-21 · civil · affirmed
  16. Charles Allen v. J. Cardenas 20-55788 · 2021-08-26 · civil · affirmed
  17. United States v. Pedro Ventura Arroyo 20-50138 · 2021-06-14 · criminal · affirmed
  18. United States v. Alexandro Virgen 20-50153 · 2021-03-25 · criminal · affirmed
  19. United States v. Coleman Payne 19-50159 · 2020-12-08 · criminal · affirmed
  20. Jacquelyn McGee v. S-L Snacks National, LLC 17-55577 · 2020-12-04 · civil · affirmed
  21. United States v. Robert Heizelman 19-50346 · 2020-08-27 · criminal · affirmed
  22. William Owens v. Kenneth Braithwaite 19-55795 · 2020-07-16 · civil · reversed
  23. Nathaniel Gann v. Ralph Diaz 17-55316 · 2020-04-20 · civil · affirmed
  24. Felipe Gutierrez-Chic v. William Barr 19-55625 · 2020-03-10 · criminal · dismissed
  25. Ayse Sen v. amazon.com, Inc. 18-56413 · 2020-02-12 · civil · reversed in part