Curiel, Gonzalo P., 1953-

Gonzalo Paul Curiel (born September 7, 1953) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, the youngest of four children. Their parents, Salvador and Francisca, had emigrated from Mascota, a small Mexican town near Puerto Vallarta in the state of Jalisco. Salvador worked as a laborer in Arizona before moving to Indiana where he worked in the steel mills. Curiel's parents married in 1946 and later became American citizens.

Curiel graduated from high school at the Bishop Noll Institute. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University in 1976 and his Juris Doctor from the Indiana University School of Law in 1979 and is a member of the fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

Curiel worked in private practice, first at James, James & Manning from 1979 to 1986 and then at Barbosa & Vera from 1986 to 1989. He was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California from 1989 to 2002. While in the Southern District, he served as Deputy Chief (1996–1999) and then Chief (1999–2002) of the Narcotics Enforcement Division.

In 2006, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Curiel to the San Diego County Superior Court. He held that position until his appointment to the federal bench.

On November 10, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Curiel to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. He replaced Judge Thomas J. Whelan, who had taken senior status. Curiel was rated "well qualified" by a substantial majority of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates federal judicial nominees.

Curiel received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 28, 2012, which reported his nomination to the Senate on April 26, 2012, by voice vote. In the early hours of September 22, 2012, on what was officially still the legislative day of September 21, the Senate confirmed Curiel by voice vote. He received his commission on October 1, 2012.