Who appointed Charles Ralph Simpson III?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Charles Ralph Simpson III to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1986.

Was Charles Ralph Simpson III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Charles Ralph Simpson III was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Charles Ralph Simpson III's confirmation vote?

Charles Ralph Simpson III was confirmed by voice vote on August 1, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Western District of Kentucky / Appointed 1986 / Senior status since 2013

Charles Ralph Simpson III

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

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, Charles Ralph Simpson III is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from University of Louisville School of Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) in 1970. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1945 · age 81
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1986
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Louisville 1967 · University of Louisville Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) 1970
Succeeded: Charles Mengel Allen
Succeeded by: David Jason Hale

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1986	Western District of Kentucky succeeded Charles Mengel Allen	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

University of Louisville	B.A.	1967
University of Louisville School of Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law)	J.D.	1970

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Simpson was assigned 6,362 district-court cases (1981–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 211 days across 6,219 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas20%

Personal-injury torts16%

Contract13%

Civil rights13%

Labor & ERISA8%

Other federal statutes8%

Other23%

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 249 of Simpson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 198 were affirmed, 33 reversed or vacated, and 18 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, Simpson authored 109 published opinions for the court (1987–2011). Most cited: Pleasant Pointe Apartments, Ltd. v. Kentucky Housing Corp. (42 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
1992	Pleasant Pointe Apartments, Ltd. v. Kentucky Housing Corp.	139 B.R. 828	42
1987	Guarantee Electric Co. v. Big Rivers Electric Corp.	669 F. Supp. 1371	31
2010	Republic Bank & Trust Co. v. Bear, Stearns & Co.	707 F. Supp. 2d 702	25
2001	Anderson v. Pine South Capital, LLC.	177 F. Supp. 2d 591	21
1994	Yaggie v. Indiana-Kentucky Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	860 F. Supp. 1194	21
1995	Wilkinson v. Jones	876 F. Supp. 916	20
1991	Ackerson v. Kentucky Judicial Retirement & Removal Commission	776 F. Supp. 309	19
1990	Wallace v. Pyro Mining Co.	789 F. Supp. 867	17
1997	Hunt Enterprises, Inc. v. John Deere Industrial Equipment Co.	18 F. Supp. 2d 697	16
1988	Continental Can Co. v. Owensboro Canning Co. (In Re Owensboro Canning Co.)	82 B.R. 450	15
1998	Sharp v. Ford Motor Co.	66 F. Supp. 2d 867	14
1993	United States v. Long	831 F. Supp. 582	14
2006	Cherry Hill Vineyards, LLC v. Hudgins	488 F. Supp. 2d 601	13
2002	Summers v. Middleton & Reutlinger, P.S.C.	214 F. Supp. 2d 751	13
2001	Res-Care, Inc. v. Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.	187 F. Supp. 2d 714	13

Showing the 15 most-cited of 109 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 Ralph Simpson III?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Charles Ralph Simpson III to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1986.
Was Charles Ralph Simpson III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Charles Ralph Simpson III was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Charles Ralph Simpson III's confirmation vote?: Charles Ralph Simpson III was confirmed by voice vote on August 1, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Charles Ralph Simpson III on?: Charles Ralph Simpson III is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

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.

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