Bruce Marshall Selya
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, Bruce Marshall Selya was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1958. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1934–2025
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1986
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard 1955 · Harvard Law School 1958
- Succeeded by
- Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | District of Rhode Island succeeded Raymond James Pettine | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
| 1986 | First Circuit | Reagan (R) | 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
| Harvard University | A.B. | 1955 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
In our data, Selya authored 105 published opinions for the court (1982–2010). Most cited: Temple v. Ellerthorpe (348 citations).
Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Selected opinions
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Temple v. Ellerthorpe | 586 F. Supp. 848 | 348 |
| 1985 | Citizens Savings Bank v. Bell | 605 F. Supp. 1033 | 65 |
| 1982 | Milene Music, Inc. v. Gotauco | 551 F. Supp. 1288 | 64 |
| 1983 | Plummer v. Abbott Laboratories | 568 F. Supp. 920 | 54 |
| 1983 | D'Antuono v. CCH Computax Systems, Inc. | 570 F. Supp. 708 | 52 |
| 1986 | Gorman v. Abbott Laboratories | 629 F. Supp. 1196 | 46 |
| 1982 | United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon | 553 F. Supp. 1220 | 42 |
| 1983 | United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon | 564 F. Supp. 581 | 41 |
| 1983 | Marcello v. Regan | 574 F. Supp. 586 | 40 |
| 1985 | Chang v. University of Rhode Island | 606 F. Supp. 1161 | 38 |
| 1984 | Hart Engineering Co. v. FMC Corp. | 593 F. Supp. 1471 | 36 |
| 1986 | In Re Roco Corp. | 64 B.R. 499 | 34 |
| 1984 | Lopez v. Bulova Watch Co., Inc. | 582 F. Supp. 755 | 34 |
| 1986 | McInnis v. Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Inc. | 625 F. Supp. 943 | 32 |
| 1986 | Heath v. American Sail Training Ass'n | 644 F. Supp. 1459 | 28 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 105 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 Bruce Marshall Selya?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Bruce Marshall Selya to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1986.
- Was Bruce Marshall Selya appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Bruce Marshall Selya was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Bruce Marshall Selya's confirmation vote?
- Bruce Marshall Selya was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Bruce Marshall Selya on?
- Bruce Marshall Selya was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Unknown authorUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
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38 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).