David Sutherland Nelson
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, David Sutherland Nelson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned a law degree from Boston College Law School in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1933–1998
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Boston College 1957 · Boston College Law School 1960
- Succeeded by
- Reginald C. Lindsay
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | District of Massachusetts | 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
| Boston College | B.S. | 1957 |
| Boston College Law School | J.D. | 1960 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Nelson was assigned 697 district-court cases (1978–1992). Median time from filing to termination: 364 days across 697 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.
In our data, Nelson authored 55 published opinions for the court (1979–1993). Most cited: Taylor Woodrow Blitman Construction Corp. v. Southfield Gardens Co. (38 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Taylor Woodrow Blitman Construction Corp. v. Southfield Gardens Co. | 534 F. Supp. 340 | 38 |
| 1983 | Leite v. Kennecott Copper Corp. | 558 F. Supp. 1170 | 32 |
| 1991 | Curran v. City of Boston | 777 F. Supp. 116 | 23 |
| 1982 | Hough v. Marsh | 557 F. Supp. 74 | 23 |
| 1981 | Glosband v. Watts Detective Agency, Inc. | 21 B.R. 963 | 23 |
| 1984 | Conservation Law Foundation of New England, Inc. v. Clark | 590 F. Supp. 1467 | 22 |
| 1982 | National Women's Health Network, Inc. v. A. H. Robins Co. | 545 F. Supp. 1177 | 18 |
| 1993 | McLean Hospital Corp. v. Lasher | 819 F. Supp. 110 | 17 |
| 1983 | Mobil Oil Corp. v. Vachon | 580 F. Supp. 153 | 15 |
| 1989 | Ringbolt Farms Homeowners Ass'n v. Town of Hull | 714 F. Supp. 1246 | 11 |
| 1983 | Simonds Chevrolet, Inc. v. General Motors Corp. | 564 F. Supp. 151 | 9 |
| 1983 | Selfridge v. Gynecol, Inc. | 564 F. Supp. 57 | 9 |
| 1992 | Boyle v. Boston Foundation, Inc. | 788 F. Supp. 627 | 8 |
| 1985 | Morrell v. Forbes, Inc. | 603 F. Supp. 1305 | 8 |
| 1989 | Farren v. General Motors Corp. | 708 F. Supp. 436 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 55 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 Sutherland Nelson?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed David Sutherland Nelson to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1979.
- Was David Sutherland Nelson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- David Sutherland Nelson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was David Sutherland Nelson's confirmation vote?
- David Sutherland Nelson was confirmed by voice vote on March 21, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was David Sutherland Nelson on?
- David Sutherland Nelson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Property and Procurement Office of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (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.
19 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).