Donald Emil Ziegler
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and confirmed by voice vote, Donald Emil Ziegler was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Georgetown College (now Georgetown University) Law Center in 1961. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1936–2019
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1978
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Duquesne 1958 · Georgetown College (now Georgetown) Law Center 1961
- Succeeded
- Rabe Ferguson Marsh Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Terrence F. McVerry
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Western District of Pennsylvania succeeded Rabe Ferguson Marsh Jr. | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Ziegler was assigned 3,451 district-court cases (1985–2003). Median time from filing to termination: 243 days across 3,450 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, Ziegler authored 125 published opinions for the court (1978–2003). Most cited: United States v. Frank (44 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | United States v. Frank | 682 F. Supp. 815 | 44 |
| 1985 | Nobers v. Crucible, Inc. | 602 F. Supp. 703 | 34 |
| 1987 | American Mutual Liability Insurance v. Neville Chemical Co. | 650 F. Supp. 929 | 31 |
| 1980 | Testa v. Janssen | 492 F. Supp. 198 | 31 |
| 1989 | United Mine Workers Ex Rel. Rabbit v. Nobel | 720 F. Supp. 1169 | 29 |
| 1980 | Rogers v. International Business MacHines Corp. | 500 F. Supp. 867 | 28 |
| 1983 | Kuntz v. Windjammer\ | 573 F. Supp. 1277 | 27 |
| 2001 | Killion v. Franklin Regional School District | 136 F. Supp. 2d 446 | 25 |
| 1979 | GBS Meat Industry Pty. Ltd. v. Kress-Dobkin Co. | 474 F. Supp. 1357 | 25 |
| 1978 | Stubbs Ex Rel. Goolsby v. Kline | 463 F. Supp. 110 | 21 |
| 1995 | Island Associates, Inc. v. Eric Group, Inc. | 894 F. Supp. 200 | 20 |
| 1987 | In Re GNC Shareholder Litigation: All Actions | 668 F. Supp. 450 | 19 |
| 1986 | Magic Marketing, Inc. v. Mailing Services of Pittsburgh, Inc. | 634 F. Supp. 769 | 19 |
| 1985 | Flick v. United States Through Farmers Home Admin. | 47 B.R. 440 | 18 |
| 1982 | Kaib v. Pennzoil Co. | 545 F. Supp. 1267 | 17 |
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 Donald Emil Ziegler?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Donald Emil Ziegler to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1978.
- Was Donald Emil Ziegler appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Donald Emil Ziegler was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Donald Emil Ziegler's confirmation vote?
- Donald Emil Ziegler was confirmed by voice vote on May 1, 1978. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Donald Emil Ziegler on?
- Donald Emil Ziegler was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Gusmcoy (CC BY-SA 4.0), 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.
25 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).