Who appointed David O. Carter?

President William J. Clinton appointed David O. Carter to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1998.

Was David O. Carter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David O. Carter was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was David O. Carter's confirmation vote?

David O. Carter was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Central District of California / Appointed 1998 / Active

David O. Carter

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

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, David O. Carter is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1944 · age 82
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1998
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of California, Los Angeles 1967 · University of California, Los Angeles, Law 1972
Succeeded: William J. Rea

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1998	Central District of California succeeded William J. Rea	Clinton (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 California, Los Angeles	B.A.	1967
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law	J.D.	1972

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Carter was assigned 10,404 district-court cases (1990–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 122 days across 10,010 closed cases.

Other civil matters21%

Civil rights15%

Contract11%

Other federal statutes11%

Prisoner & habeas11%

Intellectual property8%

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 665 of Carter’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 487 were affirmed, 110 reversed or vacated, and 68 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, Carter authored 61 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: In Re 2TheMart. Com, Inc. Securities Litigation (93 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
2000	In Re 2TheMart. Com, Inc. Securities Litigation	114 F. Supp. 2d 955	93
2005	Romo v. FFG Insurance	397 F. Supp. 2d 1237	72
2002	Cottonwood Christian Center v. Cypress Redevelopment Agency	218 F. Supp. 2d 1203	54
1999	Stomp, Inc. v. NEATO, LLC	61 F. Supp. 2d 1074	39
2011	Cardenas v. McLane Foodservices, Inc.	796 F. Supp. 2d 1246	36
2001	Marshall v. Marshall (In Re Marshall)	264 B.R. 609	25
2001	Global Telemedia Intern., Inc. v. Doe 1	132 F. Supp. 2d 1261	25
2005	Harris v. Del Taco, Inc.	396 F. Supp. 2d 1107	23
2011	Plows v. Rockwell Collins, Inc.	812 F. Supp. 2d 1063	22
2006	United States v. Mills	446 F. Supp. 2d 1115	20
2001	Federal Trade Commission v. First Alliance Mortgage Co. (In Re First Alliance Mortgage Co.)	264 B.R. 634	18
2007	Middlesex Retirement System v. Quest Software Inc.	527 F. Supp. 2d 1164	17
2004	In Re ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Securities Litigation	299 F. Supp. 2d 1055	17
2006	White v. Trans Union, LLC	462 F. Supp. 2d 1079	15
2001	Federal Trade Commission v. First Alliance Mortgage Co. (In Re First Alliance Mortgage Co.)	282 B.R. 894	14

Showing the 15 most-cited of 61 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 O. Carter?: President William J. Clinton appointed David O. Carter to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1998.
Was David O. Carter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David O. Carter was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David O. Carter's confirmation vote?: David O. Carter was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is David O. Carter on?: David O. Carter is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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.

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