Western District of Texas / Appointed 1945 / Served to 1964

Ben Herbert Rice Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

Appointed by President Harry S Truman in 1945 and confirmed by voice vote, Ben Herbert Rice Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1913. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1889–1964
Appointed by
Harry S Truman, 1945
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Texas 1914 · University of Texas Law 1913

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1945Western District of TexasTruman (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

Judicial Record

In our data, Rice authored 6 published opinions for the court (1949–1963). Most cited: RF Ball Construction Company v. Jacobs (26 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1956RF Ball Construction Company v. Jacobs140 F. Supp. 6026
1962Walker v. United States208 F. Supp. 38810
1963Shannon v. United States219 F. Supp. 7819
1956Transmix Concrete of Rockdale v. United States142 F. Supp. 3065
1949Steed v. Dodgen85 F. Supp. 9563
1959LA GLORIA OIL & GAS COMPANY v. Scofield171 F. Supp. 6170

Showing the 6 most-cited of 6 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 Ben Herbert Rice Jr.?
President Harry S Truman appointed Ben Herbert Rice Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 1945.
Was Ben Herbert Rice Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Ben Herbert Rice Jr. was appointed by President Harry S Truman, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Ben Herbert Rice Jr.'s confirmation vote?
Ben Herbert Rice Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 19, 1945. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Ben Herbert Rice Jr. on?
Ben Herbert Rice Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Sources

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

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