Donovan W. Frank
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Donovan W. Frank is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. He earned a law degree from Hamline University School of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Luther College 1973 · Hamline Law 1977
- Succeeded
- David Singleton Doty
- Succeeded by
- Eric Christian Tostrud
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | District of Minnesota succeeded David Singleton Doty | Clinton (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
| Luther College | B.A. | 1973 |
| Hamline University School of Law | J.D. | 1977 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Frank was assigned 12,311 district-court cases (1993–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 468 days across 11,858 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.
On appeal
Of 416 of Frank’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 355 were affirmed, 42 reversed or vacated, and 19 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, Frank authored 105 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: Mensing v. Wyeth, Inc. (17 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Mensing v. Wyeth, Inc. | 562 F. Supp. 2d 1056 | 17 |
| 1999 | Wagner v. Wagner | 64 F. Supp. 2d 895 | 16 |
| 2001 | Christian v. Sony Corp. of America | 152 F. Supp. 2d 1184 | 15 |
| 2010 | Lorence v. Astrue | 691 F. Supp. 2d 1008 | 14 |
| 2009 | Bernstein v. Extendicare Health Services, Inc. | 607 F. Supp. 2d 1027 | 14 |
| 2011 | American Civil Liberties Union v. Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy | 788 F. Supp. 2d 950 | 13 |
| 2005 | Airtel Wireless, LLC v. Montana Electronics Co. | 393 F. Supp. 2d 777 | 13 |
| 2003 | Yutesler v. Sears Roebuck and Co. | 263 F. Supp. 2d 1209 | 13 |
| 2007 | Bremer Business Finance Corp. v. Whitney (In Re SRC Holding Corp.) | 364 B.R. 1 | 12 |
| 2008 | Krutchen v. Zayo Bandwidth Northeast, LLC | 591 F. Supp. 2d 1002 | 11 |
| 2008 | United States v. Senogles | 570 F. Supp. 2d 1134 | 11 |
| 2004 | Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Global Pharmaceuticals | 298 F. Supp. 2d 880 | 11 |
| 2005 | Davis v. Walt Disney Co. | 393 F. Supp. 2d 839 | 10 |
| 2001 | K-Tel International, Inc. v. Tristar Products, Inc. | 169 F. Supp. 2d 1033 | 10 |
| 2009 | Czech v. Wall Street on Demand, Inc. | 674 F. Supp. 2d 1102 | 9 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 105 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 Donovan W. Frank?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Donovan W. Frank to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1998.
- Was Donovan W. Frank appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Donovan W. Frank was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Donovan W. Frank's confirmation vote?
- Donovan W. Frank was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Donovan W. Frank on?
- Donovan W. Frank is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
27 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).