Barbara Jacobs Rothstein
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, Barbara Jacobs Rothstein is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. She earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1939 · age 87
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1980
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Cornell 1960 · Harvard Law School 1966
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Western District of Washington | Carter (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
| Cornell University | B.A. | 1960 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1966 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Rothstein was assigned 9,379 district-court cases (1979–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 279 days across 9,273 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 85 of Rothstein’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 67 were affirmed, 8 reversed or vacated, and 10 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, Rothstein authored 113 published opinions for the court (1980–2004). Most cited: Time Oil Co. v. Cigna Property & Casualty Insurance (39 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Time Oil Co. v. Cigna Property & Casualty Insurance | 743 F. Supp. 1400 | 39 |
| 2003 | In Re Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation | 289 F. Supp. 2d 1230 | 36 |
| 1988 | Friends of the Earth v. Hall | 693 F. Supp. 904 | 26 |
| 1991 | Alaska Center for the Environment v. Reilly | 762 F. Supp. 1422 | 24 |
| 1989 | Branning v. CNA Insurance Companies | 721 F. Supp. 1180 | 21 |
| 1994 | Klein v. Boeing Co. | 847 F. Supp. 838 | 20 |
| 1994 | Compassion in Dying v. State of Wash. | 850 F. Supp. 1454 | 17 |
| 1992 | Sugden v. Puget Sound Tug & Barge Co. | 796 F. Supp. 455 | 17 |
| 1986 | Seafirst Corp. v. Jenkins | 644 F. Supp. 1160 | 17 |
| 1986 | Bradley v. American Smelting & Refining Co. | 635 F. Supp. 1154 | 17 |
| 2002 | J.S. v. Shoreline School District | 220 F. Supp. 2d 1175 | 16 |
| 2001 | Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 | 137 F. Supp. 2d 1224 | 16 |
| 1994 | Limit v. Maleng | 874 F. Supp. 1138 | 16 |
| 1991 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Crosby | 774 F. Supp. 584 | 16 |
| 1990 | Burlington Northern Railroad v. Time Oil Co. | 738 F. Supp. 1339 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 113 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 Barbara Jacobs Rothstein?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Barbara Jacobs Rothstein to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 1980.
- Was Barbara Jacobs Rothstein appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Barbara Jacobs Rothstein was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Barbara Jacobs Rothstein's confirmation vote?
- Barbara Jacobs Rothstein was confirmed by voice vote on February 20, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Barbara Jacobs Rothstein on?
- Barbara Jacobs Rothstein is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Government (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.
46 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).