Who appointed David F. Levi?

President George H.W. Bush appointed David F. Levi to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 1990.

Was David F. Levi appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David F. Levi was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was David F. Levi's confirmation vote?

David F. Levi was confirmed by voice vote on September 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Eastern District of California / Appointed 1990 / Served to 2007

David F. Levi

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

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, David F. Levi was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1980. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1951 · age 75
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1990
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Harvard 1972 · Stanford Law School 1980
Succeeded: Edward Dean Price
Succeeded by: John A. Mendez

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1990	Eastern District of California succeeded Edward Dean Price	G.H.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

Harvard University	A.B.	1972
Harvard University	M.A.	1973
Stanford Law School	J.D.	1980

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Levi was assigned 5,671 district-court cases (1983–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 274 days across 5,668 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas47%

Civil rights17%

Contract9%

Personal-injury torts6%

Other federal statutes5%

Social Security4%

Other12%

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 57 of Levi’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 53 were affirmed, 1 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Levi authored 75 published opinions for the court (1991–2006). Most cited: Sobky v. Smoley (66 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
1994	Sobky v. Smoley	855 F. Supp. 1123	66
2002	Artichoke Joe's v. Norton	216 F. Supp. 2d 1084	47
1996	Eckert Cold Storage, Inc. v. Behl	943 F. Supp. 1230	43
1992	Lincoln Properties, Ltd. v. Higgins	823 F. Supp. 1528	38
1995	United States v. Iron Mountain Mines, Inc.	881 F. Supp. 1432	37
1994	Haskell v. Time, Inc.	857 F. Supp. 1392	31
1995	Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc. v. International Insurance	884 F. Supp. 363	22
1993	Green v. Anderson	811 F. Supp. 516	21
1995	California Sportfishing Protection Alliance v. City of West Sacramento	905 F. Supp. 792	20
2000	National Wildlife Federation v. Babbitt	128 F. Supp. 2d 1274	19
1999	JC Produce, Inc. v. Paragon Steakhouse Restaurants, Inc.	70 F. Supp. 2d 1119	19
1997	United States v. Iron Mountain Mines, Inc.	987 F. Supp. 1263	18
2003	Clayworth v. Bonta	295 F. Supp. 2d 1110	17
1997	Haskell v. Time, Inc.	965 F. Supp. 1398	17
1991	New York Life Ins. v. Watt West Investment Corp.	755 F. Supp. 287	17

Showing the 15 most-cited of 75 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 F. Levi?: President George H.W. Bush appointed David F. Levi to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 1990.
Was David F. Levi appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David F. Levi was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David F. Levi's confirmation vote?: David F. Levi was confirmed by voice vote on September 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was David F. Levi on?: David F. Levi was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 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.

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