Edwin Leard Mechem
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, Edwin Leard Mechem was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He earned a law degree from University of Arkansas School of Law in 1939. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1912–2002
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1970
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Arkansas Law 1939
- Succeeded by
- Bobby Ray Baldock
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | District of New Mexico | 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 Arkansas School of Law | LL.B. | 1939 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Mechem was assigned 1,553 district-court cases (1983–2002). Median time from filing to termination: 323 days across 1,553 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, Mechem authored 45 published opinions for the court (1971–2002). Most cited: Sena Ex Rel. Sena v. Travelers Insurance (24 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Sena Ex Rel. Sena v. Travelers Insurance | 801 F. Supp. 471 | 24 |
| 1990 | Robbins v. Budke | 739 F. Supp. 1479 | 22 |
| 1982 | Arrow v. Dow | 544 F. Supp. 458 | 19 |
| 1992 | Nechero v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance | 795 F. Supp. 374 | 18 |
| 1994 | Valdez v. Albuquerque Public Schools | 875 F. Supp. 740 | 16 |
| 1990 | New Mexico Federation of Labor v. City of Clovis | 735 F. Supp. 999 | 14 |
| 1980 | New Mexico Ass'n for Retarded Citizens v. New Mexico | 495 F. Supp. 391 | 12 |
| 1971 | Upper Pecos Association v. Stans | 328 F. Supp. 332 | 10 |
| 2002 | Butler Ex Rel. Butler v. Rio Rancho Public School Board of Education | 245 F. Supp. 2d 1203 | 9 |
| 2001 | Yazzie v. Amigo Chevrolet, Inc. | 189 F. Supp. 2d 1245 | 9 |
| 2000 | Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District v. Babbitt | 206 F. Supp. 2d 1156 | 9 |
| 1985 | State of NM Ex Rel. Reynolds v. Aamodt | 618 F. Supp. 993 | 9 |
| 1979 | Jicarilla Apache Tribe v. Supron Energy Corp. | 479 F. Supp. 536 | 9 |
| 1971 | Saiz v. Goodwin | 325 F. Supp. 23 | 9 |
| 1983 | Otero Mills, Inc. v. Security Bank & Trust | 28 B.R. 386 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 45 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 Edwin Leard Mechem?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Edwin Leard Mechem to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico in 1970.
- Was Edwin Leard Mechem appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Edwin Leard Mechem was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Edwin Leard Mechem's confirmation vote?
- Edwin Leard Mechem was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Edwin Leard Mechem on?
- Edwin Leard Mechem was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Congress Archives - US Government (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.
32 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).