Marsha S. Berzon
How Judge Berzon rules, drawn from 47 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Berzon
Marsha Siegel Berzon is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Berzon received a commission on March 16, 2000. Judge Berzon assumed senior status on January 23, 2022.
Judge Berzon's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Berzon's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 11, 2026).
How Judge Berzon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Headwaters v. U.S. Forest Service, Berzon reversed a sua sponte preclusion dismissal because the district court had not established privity with plaintiffs in the earlier suit or given the current plaintiffs an opportunity to contest it.
“Our research failed to find a single case in which this court has upheld a dismissal for claim or issue preclusion where the parties were not given any opportunity to be heard on the issue.”
In Cole v. Holder, Berzon granted review of a removal ruling because the BIA had not given reasoned consideration to potentially dispositive testimony and had left some claims unaddressed.
“In particular, where potentially dispositive testimony and documentary evidence is submitted, the BIA must give reasoned consideration to that evidence.”
In In re Grand Jury Subpoena, Berzon reversed a subpoena for former Oregon governor Kitzhaber’s private emails because its breadth was not adequately tied to the investigation and made it analogous to a general warrant.
“As a result, the subpoena is unreasonably overbroad — analogous, that is, to a general warrant, which constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment.”
In United States v. Landeros, Berzon's opinion reversed a suppression denial after officers prolonged a lawful traffic stop because a passenger refused to identify himself. The panel held that refusal alone, without reasonable suspicion of a crime, did not justify extending the stop.
“Our question is whether law enforcement officers may extend a lawfully initiated vehicle stop because a passenger refuses to identify himself, absent reasonable suspicion that the individual has committed a criminal offense. We conclude that they may not do so.”
Procedural preferences
In United States v. Rivera-Corona, Berzon vacated the sentence and remanded because the district court had not allowed the defendant to show that he could no longer afford retained counsel and qualified for appointed counsel.
“Rivera-Corona was given no opportunity to establish that, as he asserted, he was unable to pay Marchi and therefore eligible for court-appointed and publicly financed representation.”
In Urias-Gaxiola v. Blanche, Berzon held that the immigration board abused its discretion by denying Urias-Gaxiola a chance to testify that his counsel’s admission was incorrect; the panel remanded for the immigration judge to consider withdrawal of the admission.
“The BIA abused its discretion by refusing to give Urias-Gaxiola a chance to testify that his attorney’s initial admission was untrue or incorrect.”
In a class certification appeal, Berzon treated a possible conflict between class members’ claims as an issue requiring concrete evidence and proper presentation. The panel declined to decide the newly framed issue for the first time on appeal.
“We reiterate that we are not ruling on the conflict version of the adequacy challenge, as the issue was not properly raised in this appeal.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“We review de novo the issue whether the district court had supplemental jurisdiction ... We review for abuse of discretion the district court's decision to decline supplemental jurisdiction ... We reverse.”
“We construe the appeal as a petition for a writ of mandamus, grant the writ, and direct the district court to vacate its personal jurisdiction order.”
“We reverse, and remand for consideration of the preclusion question after full adversary airing and a development of an appropriate record.”
“We reverse -- demonstrating, again, that our Constitutional principles protect against monetary injuries large and small.”
“Appellant LensCrafters appeals the district court's order remanding the case to state court for failure to timely file for removal. We affirm.”
“Accordingly, we conclude that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the Sissokos' claim because it 'aris[es] from the decision or action by the Attorney General to commence [removal] proceedings.' ... AFFIRMED in part; VACATED in part; REMANDED.”
“He argues that Penal Code 475(c) encompasses conduct involving real, unaltered documents and thus is not categorically an offense 'relating to . . . forgery' under INA 101(a)(43)(R). We agree and grant the petition.”
“For the reasons that follow, however, we vacate the condition that prohibits Riley from using a computer to access 'any material that relates to minors.'”
“As the BIA erred in holding otherwise, we grant the petition and remand to the BIA. PETITION GRANTED; REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“Given all these defects in the district court's handling of Rivera-Corona's request, we vacate Rivera-Corona's sentence. On remand, the district court must appoint counsel if Rivera-Corona is financially eligible ... VACATED and REMANDED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the restitution order is VACATED. We REMAND this case to allow the District Court to reassess whether Tsosie must pay restitution and, if so, the amount of such restitution. ... VACATED and REMANDED.”
“Because the BIA failed to give reasoned consideration to potentially dispositive testimony by Cole's expert witnesses and did not address all of Cole's claims, we grant the petition and remand to the BIA.”
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