Michelle Taryn Friedland
How Judge Friedland rules, drawn from 51 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Friedland
Michelle Taryn Friedland is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Friedland received a commission on April 29, 2014.
Judge Friedland's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Friedland'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 Friedland decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In a criminal appeal, Friedland held that a defendant’s consent did not waive a challenge to removing a deliberating juror when the removal risked being based on that juror’s view of the merits. She treated the unanimity safeguard as a limit on waiver.
“a defendant cannot waive a challenge to a juror’s removal when the removal violates Symington and runs afoul the Sixth Amendment’s unanimity guarantee.”
In a separate concurrence on asylum-seeker detention, Friedland joined the judgment but declined to decide a broader issue after concluding a narrower ground resolved the certified questions.
“I therefore refrain from deciding anything further.”
In her Anderson concurrence, Friedland would have resolved the appeal on the narrower ground that the residents’ complaint failed to state a claim. She did not join the broader statutory analysis.
“For the reasons in Part IV of the majority opinion, I agree that the Residents’ Complaint does not state a claim.”
Cautions
In CTIA, Friedland dissented in part because she read the compelled cell-phone disclosure as an unsupported safety warning when its sentences were considered together.
“Taken as a whole, the most natural reading of the disclosure warns that carrying a cell phone in one’s pocket is unsafe.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons discussed above, we REVERSE the district court's grant of summary judgment on Plaintiff's Section 1983 and gross negligence claims and REMAND for further proceedings.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the bankruptcy court abused its discretion by applying the doctrine of unclean hands to bar Northbay's request for a judgment of nondischargeability. REVERSED and REMANDED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court's denial of Mark's motion to reconsider and remand with directions to dismiss the indictment. REVERSED and REMANDED.”
“We hold that the crimes for which Ye was convicted are not specific intent crimes, so her challenges to the jury instructions fail. ... We therefore affirm.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we GRANT the petition for review and REMAND with instructions to reinstate the IJ's 2006 order granting adjustment of status.”
“We agree with the district court that Bos v. Board of Trustees (Bos I), 795 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2015) ... which held that parties to an ERISA plan cannot designate unpaid contributions as plan assets, forecloses the Trusts' claim. We therefore affirm.”
“Although we agree with Bozic that it was clear error to transfer her action to the Eastern District, issuance of the writ would have no practical impact on this case in its current procedural posture, and any injury Bozic might face is purely speculative. We therefore hold that the extraordinary remedy of mandamus is unwarranted at this time.”
“But that inference is not enough to carry the Government's burden here to prove the thirteen years of continuous presence in the United States necessary to support the enhancements applied to Petitioner Miguel Valle's sentence. We therefore vacate and remand to the district court for resentencing.”
“We disagree and affirm Mayea's conviction.”
“Because the district court held the opposite, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.”
“Following a bench trial, the district court held that the Yakama Reservation includes a 121,465.69-acre tract ('Tract D') that partially overlaps with Klickitat County. We affirm.”
“For the reasons above, we reverse the district court’s decision with respect to the application of the GPO, and we hold that the ALJ correctly determined that the GPO applies to Miskey’s spousal benefits. We affirm the district court’s 20 MISKEY V. KIJAKAZI decision to remand for the agency to determine whether it was entitled to recoup the overpayment. AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part.”
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