Who appointed Donald Stuart Russell?

President Richard M. Nixon appointed Donald Stuart Russell to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1971.

Was Donald Stuart Russell appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Donald Stuart Russell was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Donald Stuart Russell's confirmation vote?

Donald Stuart Russell was confirmed by voice vote on April 21, 1971. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Fourth Circuit / Appointed 1971 / Served to 1998

Donald Stuart Russell

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

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1971 and confirmed by voice vote, Donald Stuart Russell was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of South Carolina School of Law in 1928. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1906–1998
Appointed by: Richard M. Nixon, 1971
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of South Carolina 1925 · University of South Carolina Law 1928
Succeeded: Simon E. Sobeloff
Succeeded by: William Byrd Traxler Jr.

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1966	District of South Carolina succeeded Charles Cecil Wyche	L.B. Johnson (D)	Voice vote
1971	Fourth Circuit succeeded Simon E. Sobeloff	Nixon (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

University of South Carolina	A.B.	1925
University of South Carolina School of Law	LL.B.	1928

Judicial Record

In our data, Russell authored 30 published opinions for the court (1967–1974). Most cited: Brooks v. United States (43 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
1967	Brooks v. United States	273 F. Supp. 619	43
1968	Corbin v. Washington Fire and Marine Insurance Co.	278 F. Supp. 393	32
1970	Batson Yarn & Fabrics MacHinery Goup, Inc. v. Saurer-Allma GmbH-Allgauer Maschinenbau	311 F. Supp. 68	29
1970	Deering Milliken Research Corp. v. Textured Fibres, Inc.	310 F. Supp. 491	28
1969	Dash v. Commanding General, Fort Jackson, South Carolina	307 F. Supp. 849	28
1967	Hester v. New Amsterdam Casualty Company	268 F. Supp. 623	19
1968	Heaton v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.	278 F. Supp. 725	17
1967	Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co. v. Coastal Distributing Co.	273 F. Supp. 340	16
1967	Wright v. American Flyers Airline Corporation	263 F. Supp. 865	15
1969	Quillien v. Leeke	303 F. Supp. 698	14
1967	Bowman v. DuBose	267 F. Supp. 312	12
1967	Harrison v. Humble Oil & Refining Company	264 F. Supp. 89	11
1969	Cooper Agency v. United States	301 F. Supp. 871	10
1968	Brown v. Ford Motor Company	287 F. Supp. 906	9
1970	Carter v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company	318 F. Supp. 368	8

Showing the 15 most-cited of 30 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 Donald Stuart Russell?: President Richard M. Nixon appointed Donald Stuart Russell to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1971.
Was Donald Stuart Russell appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Donald Stuart Russell was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Donald Stuart Russell's confirmation vote?: Donald Stuart Russell was confirmed by voice vote on April 21, 1971. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Donald Stuart Russell on?: Donald Stuart Russell was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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26 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).