District of South Carolina / Appointed 1990 / Active

David C. Norton

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, David C. Norton is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. He earned a law degree from University of South Carolina School of Law in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1946 · age 80
Appointed by
George H.W. Bush, 1990
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of the South 1968 · University of South Carolina Law 1975

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1990District of South CarolinaG.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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Norton was assigned 11,229 district-court cases (1986–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 283 days across 10,431 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts18%
Contract18%
Prisoner & habeas18%
Civil rights11%
Other civil matters10%
Real property6%
Other20%

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 578 of Norton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 492 were affirmed, 45 reversed or vacated, and 41 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, Norton authored 125 published opinions for the court (1991–2010). Most cited: Magic Toyota, Inc. v. Southeast Toyota Distributors, Inc. (92 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1992Magic Toyota, Inc. v. Southeast Toyota Distributors, Inc.784 F. Supp. 30692
1999Sadighi v. Daghighfekr36 F. Supp. 2d 26756
2006Greene v. Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Inc.455 F. Supp. 2d 48349
1994Schumacher v. Cooper850 F. Supp. 43829
2000Dunes Hotel Associates v. Hyatt Corp.245 B.R. 49227
1994Witt v. AMERICAN TRUCKING ASS'N, INC.860 F. Supp. 29522
1996Bowman v. Weeks Marine, Inc.936 F. Supp. 32919
2010Washington v. Astrue698 F. Supp. 2d 56217
1999McCall v. Williams52 F. Supp. 2d 61117
1999Sadighi v. Daghighfekr36 F. Supp. 2d 27917
2003American Health and Life Ins. Co. v. Heyward272 F. Supp. 2d 57815
2002Vinten v. Jeantot Marine Alliances, S.A.191 F. Supp. 2d 64215
2000Miller v. Asensio101 F. Supp. 2d 39515
1997Aiken v. County of Hampton, SC977 F. Supp. 39015
1994Rotondo v. City of Georgetown, SC869 F. Supp. 36914

Showing the 15 most-cited of 125 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 C. Norton?
President George H.W. Bush appointed David C. Norton to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in 1990.
Was David C. Norton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
David C. Norton 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 C. Norton's confirmation vote?
David C. Norton was confirmed by voice vote on June 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is David C. Norton on?
David C. Norton is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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