Governor Gavin Newsom late last month esignated John Balla, whose relatively short but compact legal career is studded with an array of federal law enforcement agency assignments, to serve as a judge in the San Bernardino Superior Court.
According to Governor Newsom’s office,
“John Balla, of San Bernardino County, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the San Bernardino County Superior Court. Balla has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California since 2024, where he was also an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2019 to 2024 and a Deputy Chief from 2021 to 2024 and from 2025 to 2026. He served as a Senior Attorney at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2024. Balla served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico from 2015 to 2019. He worked as an Associate at Best, Best & Krieger in 2015. Balla served as a Law Clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas from 2013 to 2015. Balla received a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.”
“We thank the Governor for this much needed appointment, which allows the court to continue its commitment to meeting the justice needs of San Bernardino County. We look forward to Mr.Balla joining the San Bernardino bench,” said Presiding Judge Rod Cortez.
In reverse chronological order, Balla prior to the end of March spent the last year and five months in Riverside as the assistant United States attorney in the Central District of California, working primarily in the criminal appeals section of the office but also handling or supervising other attorneys in handling incoming cases. From January 2026 to April of 2026 he was s doing double duty as the deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Riverside, heading the Criminal Appeals Section. From January 2024 until December of 2024 he was the senior attorney functioning within the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Los Angeles office. Previous to that, Balla spent a total of eight years and three months as an assistant United States attorney in various locales including serving as the deputy chief of the Riverside branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office from May 2021 until January 2024 and as assistant U.S. attorney in Riverside from January 2019 to January 2021; as assistant U.S. attorney in the Las Cruces Branch of the United States Attorney’s Office in New Mexico from 2015 until 2019; and as a law clerk for District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in Laredo, Texas from 2013 to 2015.
Balla was a member of the U.S. attorney’s office when it became involved in the FBI’s investigation into the bombings of two churches in Las Cruces, a case in which the FBI is still laboring to to identify the person, or people, responsible.
Those bombings took place at around 8:20 a.m. on Sunday, August 2, 2015, when a device at the Calvary Baptist Church detonated., followed, about 20 minutes later, by a detonation at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Las Cruces. No one was injured in either of the blasts, and the damage was minor. The FBI has been functioning on the assumption that the explosions were related.
Ballas employment with Best Best & Krieger was brief, during his departure as Judge Marmolejo’s clerk and his hiring as an assistant U.S. attorney.
The San Bernardino Superior Court has one judicial vacancy after this appointment and an assessed overall need of 26 additional judicial officers. Fulfilling this need, court officials say, is critical to restoring public confidence in the judicial system and expanding access to justice.
Judge Balla fills the vacancy left by Judge Corey G. Lee’s elevation to the Court of Appeal.