Charles Randolph Butler Jr.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and confirmed by voice vote, Charles Randolph Butler Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. He earned a law degree from University of Alabama School of Law in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1940 · age 86
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1988
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Washington and Lee 1962 · University of Alabama Law 1966
- Succeeded
- Emmett Ripley Cox
- Succeeded by
- Kristi DuBose
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Southern District of Alabama succeeded Emmett Ripley Cox | 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
| Washington and Lee University School of Law | ||
| Washington and Lee University | B.A. | 1962 |
| University of Alabama School of Law | LL.B. | 1966 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Butler was assigned 3,637 district-court cases (1985–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 256 days across 3,629 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 72 of Butler’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 59 were affirmed, 9 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Butler authored 70 published opinions for the court (1988–2011). Most cited: Ott v. City of Mobile (38 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Ott v. City of Mobile | 169 F. Supp. 2d 1301 | 38 |
| 1990 | Martin v. Pate | 749 F. Supp. 242 | 28 |
| 1992 | Cain v. Armstrong World Industries | 785 F. Supp. 1448 | 27 |
| 1996 | Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | 935 F. Supp. 1556 | 18 |
| 2003 | Gaines v. Choctaw County Commission | 242 F. Supp. 2d 1153 | 16 |
| 1998 | Sierra Club v. Babbitt | 15 F. Supp. 2d 1274 | 15 |
| 2001 | Skandia Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Star Shipping As | 173 F. Supp. 2d 1228 | 14 |
| 1997 | Wiley v. Earl's Pawn & Jewelry, Inc. | 950 F. Supp. 1108 | 14 |
| 1996 | Carmichael v. Samyang Tires, Inc. | 923 F. Supp. 1514 | 13 |
| 1992 | Goldsmith v. City of Atmore | 782 F. Supp. 106 | 12 |
| 2003 | United States v. Brown | 279 F. Supp. 2d 1238 | 10 |
| 2000 | Hammock Ex Rel. Hammock v. Keys | 93 F. Supp. 2d 1222 | 10 |
| 1992 | Livingston v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield | 788 F. Supp. 545 | 10 |
| 2003 | Reed v. Mobile County School System | 246 F. Supp. 2d 1227 | 9 |
| 1999 | Bellsouth Advertising & Publishing Corp. v. Lambert Publishing | 45 F. Supp. 2d 1316 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 70 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 Charles Randolph Butler Jr.?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Charles Randolph Butler Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 1988.
- Was Charles Randolph Butler Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Charles Randolph Butler Jr. was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Charles Randolph Butler Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Charles Randolph Butler Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on October 14, 1988. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Charles Randolph Butler Jr. on?
- Charles Randolph Butler Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (The Third Branch newsletter) (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.
37 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).