Who appointed David Vreeland Kenyon?

President Jimmy Carter appointed David Vreeland Kenyon to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1980.

Was David Vreeland Kenyon appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

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

What was David Vreeland Kenyon's confirmation vote?

David Vreeland Kenyon was confirmed by voice vote on September 29, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Central District of California / Appointed 1980 / Served to 1997

David Vreeland Kenyon

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

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, David Vreeland Kenyon was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from University of Southern California Law School (now Gould School of Law) in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1930–2015
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1980
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of California, Berkeley 1952 · University of Southern California Law School (now Gould Law) 1957
Succeeded: Albert Lee Stephens Jr.
Succeeded by: Kim McLane Wardlaw

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1980	Central District of California succeeded Albert Lee Stephens Jr.	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 California, Berkeley	B.A.	1952
University of Southern California Law School (now Gould School of Law)	J.D.	1957

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Kenyon was assigned 1,585 district-court cases (1962–1997). Median time from filing to termination: 268 days across 1,584 closed cases.

Contract19%

Prisoner & habeas16%

Labor & ERISA13%

Civil rights9%

Personal-injury torts9%

Intellectual property8%

Other27%

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, Kenyon authored 28 published opinions for the court (1981–1997). Most cited: Orantes-Hernandez v. Smith (65 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
1982	Orantes-Hernandez v. Smith	541 F. Supp. 351	65
1984	Aminoil, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency	599 F. Supp. 69	32
1995	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. American Honda Motor Co.	900 F. Supp. 1287	30
1988	Orantes-Hernandez v. Meese	685 F. Supp. 1488	29
1993	Smiley v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.	863 F. Supp. 1156	27
1987	Gregorian v. Izvestia	658 F. Supp. 1224	13
1993	Transphase Systems, Inc. v. Southern California Edison Co.	839 F. Supp. 711	12
1991	Garza v. County of Los Angeles, Cal.	756 F. Supp. 1298	12
1981	Church of Scientology of California v. Linberg	529 F. Supp. 945	12
1993	In Re Teledyne Defense Contracting Derivative Litigation	849 F. Supp. 1369	11
1995	Hyatt v. Northrop Corp.	883 F. Supp. 484	10
1988	California Ex Rel. Van De Kamp v. American Stores Co.	697 F. Supp. 1125	10
1982	Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Film Ventures International, Inc.	543 F. Supp. 1134	10
1982	General Cinema Corp. v. Buena Vista Distribution Co.	532 F. Supp. 1244	10
1997	Hunter Ex Rel. Brandt v. Regents of the University of California	971 F. Supp. 1316	8

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 Vreeland Kenyon?: President Jimmy Carter appointed David Vreeland Kenyon to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1980.
Was David Vreeland Kenyon appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David Vreeland Kenyon was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David Vreeland Kenyon's confirmation vote?: David Vreeland Kenyon was confirmed by voice vote on September 29, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was David Vreeland Kenyon on?: David Vreeland Kenyon was 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

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16 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).