Who appointed David Brooks Smith?

President George W. Bush appointed David Brooks Smith to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2002.

Was David Brooks Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David Brooks Smith 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 Brooks Smith's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed David Brooks Smith 64–35 on July 31, 2002.

Third Circuit / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2021

David Brooks Smith

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by the Senate 64–35, David Brooks Smith is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) in 1976. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1951 · age 75
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: 64–35
Chief judge: Third Circuit, 2016 to 2021; Western District of Pennsylvania, 2001 to 2002
Education: Franklin and Marshall College 1973 · Dickinson Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) 1976
Succeeded: Timothy K. Lewis
Succeeded by: Cindy Kyounga Chung

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1988	Western District of Pennsylvania succeeded Carol Los Mansmann chief judge 2001 to 2002	Reagan (R)	Voice vote
2002	Third Circuit succeeded Timothy K. Lewis chief judge 2016 to 2021	G.W. Bush (R)	64–35

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

Nomination Confirmed 64–35 on July 31, 2002 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 202. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 64

16 D, 48 R

Voted against · 35

34 D, 1 I

Did not vote · 1

1 R

Jesse Helms(R-NC)

Education

Franklin and Marshall College	B.A.	1973
Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law)	J.D.	1976

Before the bench

Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.

Private practice, Altoona, Pennsylvania	1976-1984
Assistant district attorney, Blair County, Pennsylvania	1977-1979
Special assistant attorney general, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	1981-1983
District attorney, Blair County, Pennsylvania	1983-1984
Judge, Court of Common Pleas of Blair County [Pennsylvania], 1984-1988; administrative judge	1986-1988
Member, Judicial Conference of the United States	2016-2021

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Smith was assigned 3,600 district-court cases (1985–2002). Median time from filing to termination: 251 days across 3,599 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas30%

Personal-injury torts15%

Contract13%

Social Security11%

Civil rights9%

Labor & ERISA8%

Other15%

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 20 of Smith’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 20 were affirmed, 0 reversed or vacated. 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, Smith authored 122 published opinions for the court (1988–2012). Most cited: Sharp v. Johnson (300 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2012	Sharp v. Johnson	669 F.3d 144	300
2010	McCauley v. University of the Virgin Islands	618 F.3d 232	77
1999	Sunquest Information Systems, Inc. v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.	40 F. Supp. 2d 644	76
1989	Adamo v. Anchor Hocking Corp.	720 F. Supp. 491	45
1989	Bougher v. University of Pittsburgh	713 F. Supp. 139	39
1989	Wood & Locker, Inc. v. Doran and Associates	708 F. Supp. 684	37
2011	Joseph v. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.	651 F.3d 348	34
2002	Pursell v. Horn	187 F. Supp. 2d 260	34
1991	In Re Doemling	127 B.R. 954	32
2002	Daniel Boone Area School Dist. v. Lehman Brothers, Inc.	187 F. Supp. 2d 400	27
1992	National Precast Crypt Co. v. Dy-Core of Pennsylvania, Inc.	785 F. Supp. 1186	24
2002	McCachren v. Blacklick Valley School District	217 F. Supp. 2d 594	19
1995	Unity Real Estate Co. v. Hudson	889 F. Supp. 818	19
1989	Haimovitz v. United States Department of Justice	720 F. Supp. 516	19
2000	APT Pittsburgh Ltd. Partnership v. Lower Yoder Township	111 F. Supp. 2d 664	18

Showing the 15 most-cited of 122 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 Brooks Smith?: President George W. Bush appointed David Brooks Smith to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2002.
Was David Brooks Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David Brooks Smith 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 Brooks Smith's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed David Brooks Smith 64–35 on July 31, 2002.
Which court is David Brooks Smith on?: David Brooks Smith is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

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.

24 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Data as of 2026-09-14. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).