Who appointed Dorothy Wright Nelson?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Dorothy Wright Nelson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1979.

Was Dorothy Wright Nelson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Dorothy Wright Nelson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Dorothy Wright Nelson's confirmation vote?

Dorothy Wright Nelson was confirmed by voice vote on December 19, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Ninth Circuit / Appointed 1979 / Senior status since 1995

Dorothy Wright Nelson

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

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Dorothy Wright Nelson is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She earned a law degree from University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1953. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1928 · age 98
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of California, Los Angeles 1950 · University of California, Los Angeles, Law 1953
Succeeded by: Sidney Runyan Thomas

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1979	Ninth Circuit	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

University of California, Los Angeles	A.B.	1950
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law	J.D.	1953
University of Southern California Law School (now Gould School of Law)	LL.M.	1956

Judicial Record

In our data, Nelson authored 1 published opinion for the court (2012). Most cited: Pom Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. (28 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	Pom Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co.	679 F.3d 1170	28

Showing the 1 most-cited of 1 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 Dorothy Wright Nelson?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Dorothy Wright Nelson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1979.
Was Dorothy Wright Nelson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Dorothy Wright Nelson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Dorothy Wright Nelson's confirmation vote?: Dorothy Wright Nelson was confirmed by voice vote on December 19, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Dorothy Wright Nelson on?: Dorothy Wright Nelson is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Sources

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

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