Who appointed John A. Houston?

President George W. Bush appointed John A. Houston to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2003.

Was John A. Houston appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

John A. Houston was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was John A. Houston's confirmation vote?

John A. Houston was confirmed by voice vote on October 2, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of California / Appointed 2003 / Senior status since 2018

John A. Houston

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

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by voice vote, John A. Houston is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of Miami School of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1952 · age 74
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2003
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: North Carolina A&T State 1974 · University of Miami Law 1977
Succeeded by: Ruth Bermudez Montenegro

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2003	Southern District of California	G.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

North Carolina A&T State University	B.S.	1974
University of Miami School of Law	J.D.	1977

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Houston was assigned 3,003 district-court cases (1989–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 190 days across 2,888 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas20%

Other federal statutes16%

Civil rights15%

Other civil matters11%

Contract8%

Intellectual property6%

Other23%

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 205 of Houston’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 150 were affirmed, 39 reversed or vacated, and 16 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, Houston authored 31 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: Single Chip Systems Corp. v. Intermec IP Corp. (44 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	Single Chip Systems Corp. v. Intermec IP Corp.	495 F. Supp. 2d 1052	44
2006	Takacs v. AG Edwards and Sons, Inc.	444 F. Supp. 2d 1100	18
2007	Dalkilic v. Titan Corp.	516 F. Supp. 2d 1177	14
2007	Gonzales v. Arrow Financial Services LLC	489 F. Supp. 2d 1140	13
2008	Marketing Information Masters, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of the California State University System	552 F. Supp. 2d 1088	11
2006	Garrett v. City of Escondido	465 F. Supp. 2d 1043	11
2006	Sterner v. United States Drug Enforcement Agency (\	467 F. Supp. 2d 1017	11
2006	Rasidescu v. Midland Credit Management, Inc.	435 F. Supp. 2d 1090	11
2010	Marseglia v. JP Morgan Chase Bank	750 F. Supp. 2d 1171	10
2008	Quechan Indian Tribe v. United States	535 F. Supp. 2d 1072	7
2004	Parkes v. County of San Diego	345 F. Supp. 2d 1071	7
2007	Rasidescu v. Midland Credit Management, Inc.	496 F. Supp. 2d 1155	5
2011	Herman v. YELLOWPAGES. COM, LLC	780 F. Supp. 2d 1028	3
2008	United States v. $1,474,770.00 in U.S. Currency	538 F. Supp. 2d 1298	3
2008	Harper v. Poway Unified School District	545 F. Supp. 2d 1072	3

Showing the 15 most-cited of 31 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 John A. Houston?: President George W. Bush appointed John A. Houston to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2003.
Was John A. Houston appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John A. Houston was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was John A. Houston's confirmation vote?: John A. Houston was confirmed by voice vote on October 2, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is John A. Houston on?: John A. Houston is 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.

22 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).