William Alsup

United States District Court for the Northern District of California district Appointed by Bill Clinton (Democratic) 16 signed orders read

How Judge Alsup decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

In antitrust cases, denies cross-motions for summary judgment where a reasonable trier of fact could find on the disputed economic questions, declining to resolve them on the papers.

“All motions for summary judgment are DENIED. This order has trodden carefully to resolve the parties' four dispositive motions without requiring full resolution of the parties' ten pending Daubert motions.”

Procedural preferences

Dismisses with prejudice for failure to prosecute; repeated failures to appear make leave to amend futile.

“For the reasons stated above, defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED. In light of Sayre's failure to prosecute, his failures to appear, and for reasons mentioned above, leave to amend is futile and this action is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

Cautions

Will deny leave to amend and expressly find bad faith where counsel's request is a belated attempt to cure prior neglect, even when the motion is unopposed.

“This order will not bless counsel's belated efforts to make up for prior lack thereof, and finds this motion to amend made in bad faith. ... Plaintiff's motion for leave to file a first amended complaint is DENIED.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Sayre v. Google, Inc.
3:19-cv-02247-WHA · 2019-11-14
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“For the reasons stated above, defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED. In light of Sayre's failure to prosecute, his failures to appear, and for reasons mentioned above, leave to amend is futile and this action is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

In re Glumetza Antitrust Litigation
3:19-cv-05822-WHA · 2021-05-06
Summary judgment (both) Denied

“All motions for summary judgment are DENIED. This order has trodden carefully to resolve the parties' four dispositive motions without requiring full resolution of the parties' ten pending Daubert motions.”

Backus v. ConAgra Foods, Inc.
3:16-cv-00454-WHA · 2017-04-18
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, defendant's motion is DENIED.”

Black v. Atlas Field Services, LLC
3:23-cv-00171-WHA · 2023-08-28
Motion for leave to amend (plaintiff) Denied

“This order will not bless counsel's belated efforts to make up for prior lack thereof, and finds this motion to amend made in bad faith. ... Plaintiff's motion for leave to file a first amended complaint is DENIED.”

Sweet v. DeVos
3:19-cv-03674 · 2019-09-28
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Defendants move to dismiss Claim 2 of the complaint with prejudice under Rule 12(b)(1), and plaintiffs do not oppose (Dkt. Nos. 35, 39). Accordingly, Claim 2 is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

MasterObjects, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.
3:20-cv-08103 · 2021-10-07
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“For the foregoing reasons, Amazon's motion to dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. MasterObjects' claim as to pre-suit willful infringement is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”

Cassano v. Johnson
3:12-cv-05144 · 2013-12-04
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“Defendant Rogers's motion to dismiss (dk. 16) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART, as described above.”

Bartz v. Anthropic PBC
3:24-cv-05417-WHA · 2025-06-23
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“This order grants summary judgment for Anthropic that the training use was a fair use. And, it grants that the print-to-digital format change was a fair use for a different reason. But it denies summary judgment for Anthropic that the pirated library copies must be treated as training copies.”

Bartz v. Anthropic PBC
3:24-cv-05417-WHA · 2025-07-17
Class certification (plaintiff) Granted in part

“The motion for class certification is GRANTED as to one of the alternative pirated books classes, and otherwise denied, as follows: 1. The following LibGen & PiLiMi Pirated Books Class is CERTIFIED”

American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. United States Office of Personnel Management
3:25-cv-01780-WHA · 2025-02-28
Motion for temporary restraining order (plaintiff) Granted

“OPM's January 20 memo, February 14 email, and all other efforts by OPM to direct the termination of employees at NPS, BLM, VA, DOD, SBA, and FWS are unlawful, invalid, and must be stopped and rescinded.”

American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. United States Office of Personnel Management
3:25-cv-01780-WHA · 2025-03-14
Preliminary injunction (plaintiff) Granted

“For the reasons stated from the bench, and further explained above, the Court granted the injunction.”

Cipolla v. Team Enterprises, LLC
3:18-cv-06867-WHA · 2024-10-28
Motion for settlement approval (plaintiff) Granted

“Final approval of the class settlement is therefore GRANTED.”

Motion for attorney fees (plaintiff) Granted

“The motion for attorney's fees, costs, and class representative service awards is GRANTED.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Alsup's docket caseload. As a senior judge he carries a reduced but still varied docket: qui tam (False Claims Act), Administrative Procedure Act challenges (incl. the high-profile AFGE v. OPM probationary-employee reinstatement case), copyright, 28 U.S.C. 2255 motions/habeas, foreign judicial-assistance applications (28 U.S.C. 1782), and criminal matters. Durations below are from terminated dockets.

Put Judge Alsup's record to work

Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Alsup actually rules, not a generic AI guess.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Alsup's own signed orders and cites them.