Who appointed David Frank Hamilton?

President Barack Obama appointed David Frank Hamilton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2009.

Was David Frank Hamilton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David Frank Hamilton was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was David Frank Hamilton's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed David Frank Hamilton 59–39 on November 19, 2009.

Seventh Circuit / Appointed 2009 / Senior status since 2022

David Frank Hamilton

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the Senate 59–39, David Frank Hamilton is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1983. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1957 · age 69
Appointed by: Barack Obama, 2009
Confirmed: 59–39
Education: Haverford College 1979 · Yale Law School 1983
Succeeded: Kenneth Francis Ripple
Succeeded by: Doris Lenea Pryor

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1994	Southern District of Indiana succeeded Samuel Hugh Dillin	Clinton (D)	Voice vote
2009	Seventh Circuit succeeded Kenneth Francis Ripple	Obama (D)	59–39

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

Nomination Confirmed 59–39 on November 19, 2009 · 111th Congress, Roll Call 350. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 59

56 D, 1 R, 2 I

Voted against · 39

39 R

Did not vote · 2

2 D

Max Baucus(D-MT)
Robert Byrd(D-WV)

Education

Haverford College	B.A.	1979
Yale Law School	J.D.	1983

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Hamilton was assigned 7,197 district-court cases (1991–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 224 days across 7,187 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas25%

Civil rights22%

Contract12%

Personal-injury torts9%

Other federal statutes9%

Labor & ERISA7%

Other17%

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 105 of Hamilton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 79 were affirmed, 22 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Hamilton authored 891 published opinions for the court (1994–2026). Most cited: Tara Luevano v. Walmart Stores, Incorporated (1,399 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2013	Tara Luevano v. Walmart Stores, Incorporated	722 F.3d 1014	1,399
2018	Mhammad Abu-Shawish v. United States	898 F.3d 726	1,303
2015	Runnion Ex Rel. Rsunnion v. Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago	786 F.3d 510	1,281
2014	Cheryl Beardsley v. Carolyn Colvin	758 F.3d 834	930
2014	Earnest D. Shields v. Illinois Department of Correct	746 F.3d 782	708
2014	Stephanie Carlson v. CSX Transportation, Incorpora	758 F.3d 819	608
2014	Latesha Moon v. Carolyn Colvin	763 F.3d 718	484
2020	Scott Hildreth v. Kim Butler	960 F.3d 420	456
2019	Steven Lisle, Jr. v. William Welborn	933 F.3d 705	456
2021	Larry Howell v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.	987 F.3d 647	392
2014	Aaron McCoy v. Iberdrola Renewables, Inc.	760 F.3d 674	325
2015	Darreyll Thomas v. Michael Reese	787 F.3d 845	316
2021	Hortansia Lothridge v. Andrew Saul	984 F.3d 1227	314
2015	Vince Mullins v. Direct Digital, LLC	795 F.3d 654	294
2018	Joseph Wilborn v. David Ealey	881 F.3d 998	276

Showing the 15 most-cited of 891 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 Frank Hamilton?: President Barack Obama appointed David Frank Hamilton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2009.
Was David Frank Hamilton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David Frank Hamilton was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David Frank Hamilton's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed David Frank Hamilton 59–39 on November 19, 2009.
Which court is David Frank Hamilton on?: David Frank Hamilton is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

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.

16 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).