James A. Soto
How Judge Soto rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Soto
James A. Soto is a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. President Barack Obama appointed him, and he received his commission on June 9, 2014. He previously served on the Santa Cruz County Superior Court and took senior status on July 1, 2024.
Judge Soto's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Soto, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Conferences
In criminal cases, change-of-plea and revocation hearings are referred to a magistrate judge for findings and recommendations.
“Pursuant to LRCrim 57.6, I hereby refer the following proceedings to a United States Magistrate Judge for hearing and preparation of findings and recommendations: Change of Plea Hearings Admit/Deny Hearings on Petitions for Revocation of Probation Admit/Deny Hearings on Petitions for Revocation of Supervised Release Evidentiary hearings on petitions to revoke probation or supervised release”
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 8, 2026).
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. 56) is denied.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion to compel is granted.”
“Defendant’s motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification (Doc. 89) is granted.”
“Defendant’s motion to extend remaining deadlines (Doc. 207) is granted”
“Plaintiffs’ motion to quash or for a protective order (Doc. 206) is denied.”
“summary judgment on all four counts is granted.”
“The Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 26) is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 37) is dismissed in part and granted in part.”
“is denied. The Parties are directed to Magistrate Judge Aguilera’s Report and”
“Petitioner’s motion for injunctive relief (Doc. 3) is denied.”
“Petitioner’s amended petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied and dismissed”
“Petitioner’s motion for default judgment (Doc. 19) is denied.”
“the requirements for obtaining injunctive relief, so this request will be denied.”
“Plaintiffs’ request to submit evidence will be denied.”
“(Doc. 27) is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“(Doc. 31) is DENIED.”
“Court will strike Plaintiffs’ Motion.”
“Plaintiffs’ ‘Motion for Injunctive Relief’ (Doc. 49) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ ‘Motion of Clarification / Demand’ (Doc. 50) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ ‘Motion to Restrict Abusive Litigation’ (Doc. 79) is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ Motion to Strike (Doc. 65) is DENIED.”
“The Motion to Set Aside Entry of Default (Doc. 40) is GRANTED.”
“The Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 29) is DENIED.”
“The Motion to Dismiss by Defendants United States and Dr. Reda (Doc. 55) is”
“the Utah Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 60) is GRANTED IN PART”
“for Leave to Amend is GRANTED in all other parts.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The selected dockets include benefits, prisoner, contract and agency disputes. Nine selected matters cannot establish the overall caseload mix.
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 | 4 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 4 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 7 |
| Sep 2024 | 1 | 6 |
| Mar 2024 | 7 | 7 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 9 |
| Mar 2021 | 4 | 8 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 6 |
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 District of Arizona, not for Judge Soto: 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 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 135 | 2.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,001 | 5.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 335 | 15.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 14 | 32.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,278 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,126 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,181 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 3,857 | 20.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,128 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,842 | 9.6 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).
Draft for Judge Soto with the record in hand
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