B. Lynn Winmill
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, B. Lynn Winmill is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1952 · age 74
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1995
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Idaho State 1974 · Harvard Law School 1977
- Succeeded
- Harold Lyman Ryan
- Succeeded by
- Amanda Kathleen Brailsford
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | District of Idaho succeeded Harold Lyman Ryan | 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
| Idaho State University | B.A. | 1974 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1977 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Winmill was assigned 5,222 district-court cases (1981–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 309 days across 4,853 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 440 of Winmill’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 341 were affirmed, 55 reversed or vacated, and 44 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, Winmill authored 72 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: Wells Cargo, Inc. v. Transport Insurance (22 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Wells Cargo, Inc. v. Transport Insurance | 676 F. Supp. 2d 1114 | 22 |
| 1996 | Leavitt v. Arave | 927 F. Supp. 394 | 20 |
| 2001 | Idaho Coalition United for Bears v. Cenarrusa | 234 F. Supp. 2d 1159 | 17 |
| 2003 | Scott v. United States (In Re Doser) | 292 B.R. 652 | 16 |
| 2001 | Idaho Rural Council v. Bosma | 143 F. Supp. 2d 1169 | 16 |
| 2007 | Western Watersheds Project v. Fish and Wildlife Serv. | 535 F. Supp. 2d 1173 | 13 |
| 2005 | Western Watersheds Project v. Bennett | 392 F. Supp. 2d 1217 | 11 |
| 1996 | Idaho Sporting Congress v. Computrol, Inc. | 952 F. Supp. 690 | 11 |
| 2010 | Cornelius v. Deluca | 709 F. Supp. 2d 1003 | 10 |
| 1998 | Magic Valley Evangelical Free Church, Inc. v. Fitzgerald (In Re Hodge) | 220 B.R. 386 | 10 |
| 2011 | Nu-West Mining Inc. v. United States | 768 F. Supp. 2d 1082 | 9 |
| 2011 | IDAHO REPUBLICAN PARTY v. Ysursa | 765 F. Supp. 2d 1266 | 9 |
| 2008 | Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink | 538 F. Supp. 2d 1302 | 9 |
| 1998 | Hoffman v. Arave | 73 F. Supp. 2d 1192 | 8 |
| 2011 | United States v. Swisher | 790 F. Supp. 2d 1215 | 7 |
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 B. Lynn Winmill?
- President William J. Clinton appointed B. Lynn Winmill to the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho in 1995.
- Was B. Lynn Winmill appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- B. Lynn Winmill was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was B. Lynn Winmill's confirmation vote?
- B. Lynn Winmill was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is B. Lynn Winmill on?
- B. Lynn Winmill is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of Idaho (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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).