Dale Emerson Saffels
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Dale Emerson Saffels was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. He earned a law degree from Washburn University School of Law in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1921–2002
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Emporia State 1947 · Washburn Law 1949
- Succeeded by
- John Watson Lungstrum
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | District of Kansas | Carter (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
| Emporia State University | B.A. | 1947 |
| Washburn University School of Law | J.D. | 1949 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Saffels was assigned 3,287 district-court cases (1984–2002). Median time from filing to termination: 228 days across 3,287 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.
In our data, Saffels authored 569 published opinions for the court (1980–2002). Most cited: Renfro v. City of Emporia, Kan. (79 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Renfro v. City of Emporia, Kan. | 732 F. Supp. 1116 | 79 |
| 1987 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Hudson | 673 F. Supp. 1039 | 43 |
| 1993 | Inland's Monthly Income Fund, L.P. v. Duckwall-Alco Stores, Inc. (In Re Duckwall-Alco Stores, Inc.) | 150 B.R. 965 | 42 |
| 1994 | Tyler v. City of Manhattan | 857 F. Supp. 800 | 40 |
| 1986 | Burger King Corp. v. B-K of Kansas, Inc. | 64 B.R. 728 | 40 |
| 1995 | Vanderlinden v. State of Kan. | 874 F. Supp. 1210 | 37 |
| 1997 | Kaus v. Standard Insurance | 985 F. Supp. 1277 | 33 |
| 1993 | Fillmore v. Ordonez | 829 F. Supp. 1544 | 33 |
| 1988 | US Sprint Communications Co. v. Buscher | 89 B.R. 154 | 33 |
| 1982 | Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Sonic Development Corp. | 546 F. Supp. 533 | 32 |
| 1995 | Smith v. Midland Brake, Inc. | 911 F. Supp. 1351 | 31 |
| 1995 | Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri v. LaFaver | 905 F. Supp. 904 | 31 |
| 1993 | Levesque v. Levesque | 816 F. Supp. 662 | 31 |
| 2001 | Glannon v. Garrett & Associates, Inc. | 261 B.R. 259 | 30 |
| 1983 | Hoffman v. United Telecommunications, Inc. | 575 F. Supp. 1463 | 30 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 569 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 Dale Emerson Saffels?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Dale Emerson Saffels to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in 1979.
- Was Dale Emerson Saffels appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Dale Emerson Saffels was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Dale Emerson Saffels's confirmation vote?
- Dale Emerson Saffels was confirmed by voice vote on October 31, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Dale Emerson Saffels on?
- Dale Emerson Saffels was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Government (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.
23 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).