Patricia L. Cohen
How Judge Cohen decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On Second Amendment challenges to the felon-in-possession statute (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)), she follows binding Eighth Circuit precedent (United States v. Jackson) that forecloses both facial and as-applied challenges — such a motion to dismiss is a non-starter before her after Jackson, as defense counsel conceded in Ralph.
“The undersigned therefore adopts and sustains Judge Cohen’s Report and Recommendation in its entirety and denies the Motion to Dismiss the Indictment.”
Procedural preferences
She holds evidentiary hearings on suppression and other fact-dependent pretrial motions before issuing detailed R&Rs; district judges repeatedly describe her R&Rs as thorough and grounded in 'sound legal authority and detailed analysis' and adopt them, often with no objection.
“Judge Cohen thoroughly analyzes the law and facts in this matter Her recommendation is based on sound legal authority and detailed analysis. Upon review, the Court adopts the Report and Recommendation in toto.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motions to dismiss N = 2 |
Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Motion to suppress N = 2 |
Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Motion for abatement N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to transfer venue N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The undersigned therefore adopts and sustains Judge Cohen’s Report and Recommendation in its entirety and denies the Motion to Dismiss the Indictment.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Illegally Obtained Evidence,[Doc. No. 47] is DENIED.”
“In her May 13, 2021 Report and Recommendation, Judge Cohen recommended that the Defendant’s motions be denied. Defendant has filed a written objection to this recommendation. For the reasons set forth below, the Court adopts Judge Cohen’s recommendation.”
“Magistrate Judge Cohen recommends the Court deny both the Motion to Dismiss Indictment and the Motion to Transfer Case to the Central District of California.”
“Magistrate Judge Cohen recommends the Court deny both the Motion to Dismiss Indictment and the Motion to Transfer Case to the Central District of California.”
“On March 12, 2018, Judge Cohen recommended that Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Statements be denied. (Doc. No. 93)”