Andrew Jay Kleinfeld
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, Andrew Jay Kleinfeld was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1969. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1945–2025
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1991
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Wesleyan 1966 · Harvard Law School 1969
- Succeeded
- Alfred Theodore Goodwin
- Succeeded by
- Morgan Christen
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | District of Alaska | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
| 1991 | Ninth Circuit succeeded Alfred Theodore Goodwin | G.H.W. Bush (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Wesleyan University | B.A. | 1966 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1969 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Kleinfeld was assigned 781 district-court cases (1980–1991). Median time from filing to termination: 357 days across 777 closed cases.
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.
In our data, Kleinfeld authored 28 published opinions for the court (1986–2012). Most cited: Cousins v. Lockyer (714 citations).
Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Selected opinions
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Cousins v. Lockyer | 568 F.3d 1063 | 714 |
| 2009 | Holley v. Yarborough | 568 F.3d 1091 | 246 |
| 2012 | Wood v. City of San Diego | 678 F.3d 1075 | 100 |
| 2012 | United States v. Leal-Vega | 680 F.3d 1160 | 74 |
| 2009 | Wirum v. Warren (In Re Warren) | 568 F.3d 1113 | 61 |
| 2009 | Biltmore Associates, LLC v. Twin City Fire Insurance | 572 F.3d 663 | 42 |
| 2008 | United States v. Ramirez | 537 F.3d 1075 | 35 |
| 2012 | Ordonez v. United States | 680 F.3d 1135 | 25 |
| 2009 | Gaughan v. Edward Dittlof Revocable Trust (In Re Costas) | 555 F.3d 790 | 25 |
| 2009 | United States v. Mohsen | 587 F.3d 1028 | 22 |
| 2010 | Edwards v. Wells Fargo and Co. | 606 F.3d 555 | 15 |
| 2010 | Valdovinos v. McGrath | 598 F.3d 568 | 13 |
| 1988 | Interior Glass Services, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance | 691 F. Supp. 1255 | 9 |
| 1988 | Native Village of Venetie I.R.A. Council v. Alaska | 687 F. Supp. 1380 | 9 |
| 1987 | Sisemore v. U.S. News & World Report, Inc. | 662 F. Supp. 1529 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 28 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 Andrew Jay Kleinfeld?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Andrew Jay Kleinfeld to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1991.
- Was Andrew Jay Kleinfeld appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Andrew Jay Kleinfeld was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Andrew Jay Kleinfeld's confirmation vote?
- Andrew Jay Kleinfeld was confirmed by voice vote on September 12, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Andrew Jay Kleinfeld on?
- Andrew Jay Kleinfeld was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
34 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).