Earl Ben Gilliam
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, Earl Ben Gilliam was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–2001
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1980
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- San Diego State College 1953 · University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) 1957
- Succeeded by
- Napoleon A. Jones Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Southern District of California | 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
| San Diego State College | B.A. | 1953 |
| University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) | J.D. | 1957 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gilliam was assigned 1,391 district-court cases (1978–1994). Median time from filing to termination: 329 days across 1,391 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, Gilliam authored 18 published opinions for the court (1983–1993). Most cited: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (28 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 727 F. Supp. 570 | 28 |
| 1991 | United States v. Sam Ellis Stores, Inc. | 768 F. Supp. 286 | 13 |
| 1989 | Almon v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. | 724 F. Supp. 765 | 9 |
| 1990 | Johnson v. National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. | 742 F. Supp. 1062 | 6 |
| 1989 | People of State of Cal. v. Trans World Airlines | 720 F. Supp. 826 | 6 |
| 1987 | Sheet Metal Workers' International Ass'n v. West Coast Sheet Metal Co. | 660 F. Supp. 1500 | 6 |
| 1991 | Montes v. United States | 778 F. Supp. 19 | 5 |
| 1990 | Verduzco v. General Dynamics, Convair Division | 742 F. Supp. 559 | 5 |
| 1988 | United States v. Telink, Inc. | 702 F. Supp. 805 | 5 |
| 1985 | Southwest Marine, Inc. v. Campbell Industries | 616 F. Supp. 253 | 5 |
| 1993 | Maryland National Bank v. the Vessel Madam Chapel | 821 F. Supp. 1361 | 4 |
| 1988 | United States v. Telink, Inc. | 681 F. Supp. 1454 | 4 |
| 1993 | Silverman v. United States Department of Defense | 817 F. Supp. 846 | 2 |
| 1990 | Winans v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 743 F. Supp. 733 | 2 |
| 1983 | Grant v. Pitchford | 565 F. Supp. 430 | 2 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 18 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 Earl Ben Gilliam?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Earl Ben Gilliam to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1980.
- Was Earl Ben Gilliam appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Earl Ben Gilliam was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Earl Ben Gilliam's confirmation vote?
- Earl Ben Gilliam was confirmed by voice vote on August 19, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Earl Ben Gilliam on?
- Earl Ben Gilliam was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (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.
20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).