Who appointed Charles Byron Renfrew?

President Richard M. Nixon appointed Charles Byron Renfrew to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1971.

Was Charles Byron Renfrew appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Charles Byron Renfrew was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Charles Byron Renfrew's confirmation vote?

Charles Byron Renfrew was confirmed by voice vote on December 2, 1971. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of California / Appointed 1971 / Served to 1980

Charles Byron Renfrew

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1971 and confirmed by voice vote, Charles Byron Renfrew was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1928–2017
Appointed by: Richard M. Nixon, 1971
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Princeton 1952 · University of Michigan Law School 1956
Succeeded: Gerald Sanford Levin
Succeeded by: Eugene F. Lynch

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1971	Northern District of California succeeded Gerald Sanford Levin	Nixon (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

Princeton University	A.B.	1952
University of Michigan Law School	J.D.	1956

Judicial Record

In our data, Renfrew authored 117 published opinions for the court (1972–1979). Most cited: Stone v. Stone (94 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1978	Stone v. Stone	450 F. Supp. 919	94
1977	Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Barnes	425 F. Supp. 1294	81
1973	Manchester Band of Pomo Indians, Inc. v. United States	363 F. Supp. 1238	67
1974	Dahl v. City of Palo Alto	372 F. Supp. 647	66
1977	Morgan v. Laborers Pension Trust Fund for N. Cal.	433 F. Supp. 518	59
1972	United States Jaycees v. San Francisco Jr. Cham. of Com.	354 F. Supp. 61	57
1979	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Pacific Press Publishing Ass'n	482 F. Supp. 1291	45
1977	Standard Oil Co. of California v. Agsalud	442 F. Supp. 695	44
1976	Kipperman v. McCone	422 F. Supp. 860	42
1974	Jack Winter, Inc. v. Koratron Company, Inc.	375 F. Supp. 1	42
1977	Eldredge v. Carpenters 46 Northern California Counties Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee	440 F. Supp. 506	40
1977	Wong v. Bacon	445 F. Supp. 1177	39
1978	De Malherbe v. International Union of Elevator Constructors	449 F. Supp. 1335	35
1975	Sierra Club v. Morton	400 F. Supp. 610	35
1977	Corbin v. Pan American World Airways, Inc.	432 F. Supp. 939	34

Showing the 15 most-cited of 117 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 Byron Renfrew?: President Richard M. Nixon appointed Charles Byron Renfrew to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1971.
Was Charles Byron Renfrew appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Charles Byron Renfrew was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Charles Byron Renfrew's confirmation vote?: Charles Byron Renfrew was confirmed by voice vote on December 2, 1971. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Charles Byron Renfrew on?: Charles Byron Renfrew was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Sources

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

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