Eastern District of Arkansas / Appointed 1993 / Served to 2025

Billy Roy Wilson

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1993 and confirmed by voice vote, Billy Roy Wilson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. He earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1939–2025
Appointed by
William J. Clinton, 1993
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Hendrix College 1962 · Vanderbilt Law School 1965

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1993Eastern District of ArkansasClinton (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

Hendrix CollegeB.A.1962
Vanderbilt University Law SchoolJ.D.1965

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Wilson was assigned 12,090 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 547 days across 12,083 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts57%
Prisoner & habeas14%
Civil rights7%
Other civil matters7%
Contract4%
Social Security3%
Other8%

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 611 of Wilson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 551 were affirmed, 41 reversed or vacated, and 19 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, Wilson authored 64 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Jones Truck Lines, Inc. v. AFCO Steel, Inc. (29 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1994Jones Truck Lines, Inc. v. AFCO Steel, Inc.849 F. Supp. 129629
1996Martin v. Cox213 B.R. 57125
1994Little Rock Family Planning Services, P.A. v. Dalton860 F. Supp. 60918
2000Stevenson v. Union Pacific Railroad110 F. Supp. 2d 108610
1994Conway School District v. Wilhoit854 F. Supp. 14309
2007INFOMATH, INC. v. University of Arkansas633 F. Supp. 2d 6748
1997Russell v. Burris978 F. Supp. 12118
1997In Re Independent Counsel Starr986 F. Supp. 11448
1994Ferrell v. Yarberry848 F. Supp. 1216
2010In Re Prempro Products Liability Litigation738 F. Supp. 2d 8875
2010United States v. Swift720 F. Supp. 2d 10485
2008Independence County v. Pfizer, Inc.534 F. Supp. 2d 8825
2000Meredith v. Buchman101 F. Supp. 2d 7645
1996Newton County Wildlife Ass'n v. Rogers948 F. Supp. 505
2003Smith v. Duke296 F. Supp. 2d 9654

Showing the 15 most-cited of 64 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 Billy Roy Wilson?
President William J. Clinton appointed Billy Roy Wilson to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in 1993.
Was Billy Roy Wilson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Billy Roy Wilson was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Billy Roy Wilson's confirmation vote?
Billy Roy Wilson was confirmed by voice vote on September 30, 1993. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Billy Roy Wilson on?
Billy Roy Wilson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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