Who appointed Irma Elsa Gonzalez?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Irma Elsa Gonzalez to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1992.

Was Irma Elsa Gonzalez appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Irma Elsa Gonzalez was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Irma Elsa Gonzalez's confirmation vote?

Irma Elsa Gonzalez was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of California / Appointed 1992 / Served to 2013

Irma Elsa Gonzalez

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Irma Elsa Gonzalez was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She earned a law degree from University of Arizona College of Law (now James E. Rogers College of Law) in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1948 · age 78
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1992
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Stanford 1970 · University of Arizona College of Law (now James E. Rogers College of Law) 1973
Succeeded: J. Lawrence Irving
Succeeded by: Cynthia Ann Bashant

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1992	Southern District of California succeeded J. Lawrence Irving	G.H.W. Bush (R)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

Stanford University	B.A.	1970
University of Arizona College of Law (now James E. Rogers College of Law)	J.D.	1973

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Gonzalez was assigned 4,089 district-court cases (1982–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 188 days across 4,087 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas27%

Civil rights19%

Contract12%

Other federal statutes9%

Personal-injury torts7%

Intellectual property6%

Other20%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

On appeal

Of 133 of Gonzalez’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 117 were affirmed, 10 reversed or vacated, and 6 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.

In our data, Gonzalez authored 66 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance (51 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2007	Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance	472 F. Supp. 2d 1183	51
2010	In Re Sony Grand Wega KDF-E A10/A20 Series Rear Projection HDTV Television Litigation	758 F. Supp. 2d 1077	48
2005	Organization for the Advancement of Minorities With Disabilities Suing on Behalf of Its Members v. Brick Oven Restaurant	406 F. Supp. 2d 1120	48
1999	Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. v. Brown (In Re Brown)	239 B.R. 204	32
2002	United States v. Reynard	220 F. Supp. 2d 1142	30
2010	Peruta v. County of San Diego	758 F. Supp. 2d 1106	23
1997	Schonfeld v. City of Carlsbad	978 F. Supp. 1329	16
2009	Runaj v. Wells Fargo Bank	667 F. Supp. 2d 1199	15
2000	Chloe Z Fishing Co. v. Odyssey Re (London) Ltd.	109 F. Supp. 2d 1236	15
1994	Council for Life Coalition v. Reno	856 F. Supp. 1422	15
1992	Price v. United States Navy	818 F. Supp. 1323	15
2011	Kohler v. Flava Enterprises, Inc.	826 F. Supp. 2d 1221	14
2011	United States v. Harvey	794 F. Supp. 2d 1103	13
2001	Arriaga v. Cross Country Bank	163 F. Supp. 2d 1189	13
1996	Perez v. Marshall	946 F. Supp. 1521	13

Showing the 15 most-cited of 66 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Irma Elsa Gonzalez?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Irma Elsa Gonzalez to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1992.
Was Irma Elsa Gonzalez appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Irma Elsa Gonzalez was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Irma Elsa Gonzalez's confirmation vote?: Irma Elsa Gonzalez was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Irma Elsa Gonzalez on?: Irma Elsa Gonzalez was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

21 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).