Who appointed A. Howard Matz?

President William J. Clinton appointed A. Howard Matz to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1998.

Was A. Howard Matz appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

A. Howard Matz was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was A. Howard Matz's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed A. Howard Matz 85–0 on June 26, 1998.

Central District of California / Appointed 1998 / Served to 2013

A. Howard Matz

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by the Senate 85–0, A. Howard Matz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1968. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1943 · age 83
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1998
Confirmed: 85–0
Education: Columbia 1965 · Harvard Law School 1968
Succeeded: Harry Lindley Hupp
Succeeded by: Michael Walter Fitzgerald

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1998	Central District of California succeeded Harry Lindley Hupp	Clinton (D)	85–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 85–0 on June 26, 1998 · 105th Congress, Roll Call 182. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 85

38 D, 47 R

Did not vote · 15

7 D, 8 R

Education

Columbia University	A.B.	1965
Harvard Law School	J.D.	1968

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Matz was assigned 4,027 district-court cases (1986–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 202 days across 4,026 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas21%

Contract15%

Civil rights14%

Intellectual property13%

Other federal statutes11%

Labor & ERISA10%

Other18%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

On appeal

Of 148 of Matz’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 122 were affirmed, 15 reversed or vacated, and 11 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.

In our data, Matz authored 72 published opinions for the court (1998–2011). Most cited: Motus v. Pfizer Inc. (42 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2001	Motus v. Pfizer Inc.	196 F. Supp. 2d 984	42
2001	Watson Laboratories, Inc. v. Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc.	178 F. Supp. 2d 1099	40
2003	Castaic Lake Water Agency v. Whittaker Corp.	272 F. Supp. 2d 1053	36
2004	In Re Silicone Gel Breast Impl. Prod. Liab. Lit.	318 F. Supp. 2d 879	30
2002	Chubb Group of Insurance v. H.A. Transportation Systems, Inc.	243 F. Supp. 2d 1064	29
2000	Molloy v. Primus Automotive Financial Services	247 B.R. 804	28
2000	Selby v. New Line Cinema Corp.	96 F. Supp. 2d 1053	27
2006	Perfect 10 v. Google, Inc.	416 F. Supp. 2d 828	22
2000	Motus v. Pfizer, Inc.	127 F. Supp. 2d 1085	21
2001	Communities for a Better Environment v. Cenco Refining Co.	180 F. Supp. 2d 1062	19
2000	Scherz v. South Carolina Insurance	112 F. Supp. 2d 1000	19
2004	Miller v. Glenn Miller Productions	318 F. Supp. 2d 923	16
1999	Cohen v. State Farm Fire & Casualty	68 F. Supp. 2d 1151	16
2010	Dorsett v. Sandoz, Inc.	699 F. Supp. 2d 1142	15
2008	Friedman v. 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc.	580 F. Supp. 2d 985	14

Showing the 15 most-cited of 72 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed A. Howard Matz?: President William J. Clinton appointed A. Howard Matz to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1998.
Was A. Howard Matz appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: A. Howard Matz was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was A. Howard Matz's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed A. Howard Matz 85–0 on June 26, 1998.
Which court was A. Howard Matz on?: A. Howard Matz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

14 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).