Who appointed David Owen Belew Jr.?

President Jimmy Carter appointed David Owen Belew Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in 1979.

Was David Owen Belew Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David Owen Belew Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was David Owen Belew Jr.'s confirmation vote?

David Owen Belew Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on April 24, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of Texas / Appointed 1979 / Served to 2001

David Owen Belew Jr.

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

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, David Owen Belew Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1948. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1920–2001
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Texas 1946 · University of Texas Law 1948
Succeeded by: Terry R. Means

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1979	Northern District of Texas	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

University of Texas	B.A.	1946
University of Texas School of Law	LL.B.	1948

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Belew was assigned 765 district-court cases (1982–1994). Median time from filing to termination: 498 days across 763 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas22%

Contract19%

Personal-injury torts15%

Civil rights10%

Social Security6%

Labor & ERISA5%

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.

In our data, Belew authored 38 published opinions for the court (1979–1994). Most cited: United States v. $80,760.00 in U.S. Currency (60 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1991	United States v. $80,760.00 in U.S. Currency	781 F. Supp. 462	60
1983	Martin v. Glass	571 F. Supp. 1406	47
1992	Old Republic Insurance v. Comprehensive Health Care Associates, Inc.	786 F. Supp. 629	45
1980	Baird v. Bell Helicopter Textron	491 F. Supp. 1129	23
1981	Dixon v. McMullen	527 F. Supp. 711	19
1993	Ledesma Ex Rel. Ledesma v. Dillard Department Stores, Inc.	818 F. Supp. 983	16
1988	Compton Corp. Ex Rel. Kellogg v. United States Department of Energy (In Re Compton Corp.)	90 B.R. 798	16
1985	Clark v. Tarrant County, Tex.	608 F. Supp. 209	14
1983	Kern v. Dynalectron Corp.	577 F. Supp. 1196	14
1992	United States v. Forfeiture, Property, All Appurtenances & Improvements	803 F. Supp. 1194	10
1984	Sid Richardson Carbon & Gasoline Co. v. Internorth, Inc.	595 F. Supp. 497	10
1991	United States v. Forfeiture, Stop Six Center	781 F. Supp. 1200	9
1980	Placid Oil Co. v. United States Department of Interior	491 F. Supp. 895	9
1990	Advanced Dynamics Corp. v. Mitech Corp.	729 F. Supp. 519	8
1987	Holton v. Mohon	684 F. Supp. 1407	8

Showing the 15 most-cited of 38 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 David Owen Belew Jr.?: President Jimmy Carter appointed David Owen Belew Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in 1979.
Was David Owen Belew Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David Owen Belew Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David Owen Belew Jr.'s confirmation vote?: David Owen Belew Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on April 24, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was David Owen Belew Jr. on?: David Owen Belew Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

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.

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