David Gregory Kays
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008 and confirmed by voice vote, David Gregory Kays is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. He earned a law degree from University of Arkansas School of Law in 1987. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1962 · age 64
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2008
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University) 1985 · University of Arkansas Law 1987
- Succeeded
- Dean Whipple
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Western District of Missouri succeeded Dean Whipple | G.W. Bush (R) | 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
| Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) | B.S. | 1985 |
| University of Arkansas School of Law | J.D. | 1987 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Kays was assigned 3,343 district-court cases (1997–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 175 days across 2,917 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 359 of Kays’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 313 were affirmed, 28 reversed or vacated, and 18 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, Kays authored 7 published opinions for the court (2010–2011). Most cited: Scarlett v. School of the Ozarks, Inc. (6 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Scarlett v. School of the Ozarks, Inc. | 780 F. Supp. 2d 924 | 6 |
| 2011 | Michael D. v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC | 763 F. Supp. 2d 1091 | 5 |
| 2011 | Lewis Bros. Bakeries Inc. v. Interstate Brands Corp. (In Re Interstate Bakeries Corp.) | 447 B.R. 879 | 4 |
| 2010 | Green v. Union Security Insurance | 700 F. Supp. 2d 1116 | 2 |
| 2011 | Queen v. Educational Credit Management Corp. (In Re Watkins) | 461 B.R. 57 | 1 |
| 2011 | United States v. Ceruti | 827 F. Supp. 2d 1036 | 0 |
| 2010 | Rowan v. Standard Fire Insurance | 698 F. Supp. 2d 1183 | 0 |
Showing the 7 most-cited of 7 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 Gregory Kays?
- President George W. Bush appointed David Gregory Kays to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 2008.
- Was David Gregory Kays appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- David Gregory Kays was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was David Gregory Kays's confirmation vote?
- David Gregory Kays was confirmed by voice vote on June 10, 2008. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is David Gregory Kays on?
- David Gregory Kays is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (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.
18 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).