Arthur J. Tarnow
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Arthur J. Tarnow was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1942–2022
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Wayne State 1963 · Wayne State Law School 1965
- Succeeded
- Julian Abele Cook Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Terrence George Berg
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Eastern District of Michigan succeeded Julian Abele Cook Jr. | Clinton (D) | 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
| Wayne State University | B.A. | 1963 |
| Wayne State University Law School | J.D. | 1965 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Tarnow was assigned 4,689 district-court cases (1995–2021). Median time from filing to termination: 205 days across 4,681 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.
On appeal
Of 300 of Tarnow’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 223 were affirmed, 56 reversed or vacated, and 21 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, Tarnow authored 117 published opinions for the court (1998–2011). Most cited: Ward v. Wolfenbarger (115 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Ward v. Wolfenbarger | 323 F. Supp. 2d 818 | 115 |
| 2002 | Dickens v. Jones | 203 F. Supp. 2d 354 | 66 |
| 2003 | Meade v. Lavigne | 265 F. Supp. 2d 849 | 65 |
| 2001 | Johnson v. Hofbauer | 159 F. Supp. 2d 582 | 52 |
| 2001 | Holloway v. Jones | 166 F. Supp. 2d 1185 | 49 |
| 2003 | Adams v. Smith | 280 F. Supp. 2d 704 | 37 |
| 2004 | Ward v. Wolfenbarger | 340 F. Supp. 2d 773 | 35 |
| 1999 | Hudson v. Martin | 68 F. Supp. 2d 798 | 34 |
| 2001 | Monroe v. Smith | 197 F. Supp. 2d 753 | 31 |
| 2001 | Erwin v. Elo | 130 F. Supp. 2d 887 | 26 |
| 2005 | Coleman v. Martin | 363 F. Supp. 2d 894 | 24 |
| 2006 | Siggers-El v. Barlow | 433 F. Supp. 2d 811 | 23 |
| 1999 | Cyberspace, Communications, Inc. v. Engler | 55 F. Supp. 2d 737 | 21 |
| 2005 | Brown v. Palmer | 358 F. Supp. 2d 648 | 19 |
| 2009 | Pillette v. Berghuis | 630 F. Supp. 2d 791 | 17 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 117 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 Arthur J. Tarnow?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Arthur J. Tarnow to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1998.
- Was Arthur J. Tarnow appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Arthur J. Tarnow was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Arthur J. Tarnow's confirmation vote?
- Arthur J. Tarnow was confirmed by voice vote on May 13, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Arthur J. Tarnow on?
- Arthur J. Tarnow was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- 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.
23 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).