David R. Herndon
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, David R. Herndon was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1953 · age 73
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Southern Illinois Edwardsville 1974 · Southern Illinois Law 1977
- Succeeded
- William Louis Beatty
- Succeeded by
- David Wayne Dugan
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Southern District of Illinois succeeded William Louis Beatty | 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
| Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | B.A. | 1974 |
| Southern Illinois University School of Law | J.D. | 1977 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Herndon was assigned 5,274 district-court cases (1992–2018). Median time from filing to termination: 324 days across 5,274 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.
On appeal
Of 200 of Herndon’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 170 were affirmed, 20 reversed or vacated, and 10 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, Herndon authored 28 published opinions for the court (2000–2011). Most cited: Potter v. Janus Investment Fund (34 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Potter v. Janus Investment Fund | 483 F. Supp. 2d 692 | 34 |
| 2002 | Berger v. Xerox Retirement Income Guaranty Plan | 231 F. Supp. 2d 804 | 24 |
| 2002 | Coil v. Jack Tanner Towing Co., Inc. | 242 F. Supp. 2d 555 | 10 |
| 2001 | Hulme v. Madison County | 188 F. Supp. 2d 1041 | 8 |
| 2006 | United States v. Vest | 448 F. Supp. 2d 1002 | 6 |
| 2006 | Bommersbach v. Ruiz | 461 F. Supp. 2d 743 | 6 |
| 2000 | Harris v. Franklin-Williamson Human Services, Inc. | 97 F. Supp. 2d 892 | 6 |
| 2011 | In Re Yasmin & Yaz (Drospirenone) | 779 F. Supp. 2d 846 | 5 |
| 2010 | In Re Yasmin and Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing | 692 F. Supp. 2d 1025 | 4 |
| 2010 | EL v. Evans | 694 F. Supp. 2d 1009 | 4 |
| 2009 | Dace v. SMITH-VASQUEZ | 658 F. Supp. 2d 865 | 4 |
| 2009 | United States v. Shanrie Co., Inc. | 610 F. Supp. 2d 958 | 4 |
| 2006 | Walker v. Monsanto Co. Pension Plan | 472 F. Supp. 2d 1053 | 4 |
| 2009 | MARCTEC, LLC v. Johnson & Johnson | 638 F. Supp. 2d 987 | 3 |
| 2004 | United States v. Carroll | 320 F. Supp. 2d 748 | 3 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 28 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 R. Herndon?
- President William J. Clinton appointed David R. Herndon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in 1998.
- Was David R. Herndon appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- David R. Herndon 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 R. Herndon's confirmation vote?
- David R. Herndon was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was David R. Herndon on?
- David R. Herndon was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).