Edwin L. Nelson
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, Edwin L. Nelson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He earned a law degree from Samford University, Cumberland School of Law in 1969. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1940–2003
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1990
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Samford, Cumberland Law 1969
- Succeeded
- Junius Foy Guin Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Virginia Emerson Hopkins
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Northern District of Alabama succeeded Junius Foy Guin Jr. | G.H.W. Bush (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Nelson was assigned 4,076 district-court cases (1983–2002). Median time from filing to termination: 235 days across 4,076 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, Nelson authored 40 published opinions for the court (1990–2002). Most cited: Fry v. Massanari (61 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Fry v. Massanari | 209 F. Supp. 2d 1246 | 61 |
| 2001 | Bank United v. Manley | 273 B.R. 229 | 33 |
| 1998 | Campbell v. General Motors Corp. | 19 F. Supp. 2d 1260 | 24 |
| 1996 | Earnest v. General Motors Corp. | 923 F. Supp. 1469 | 23 |
| 1994 | Johnston v. Morrison, Inc. | 849 F. Supp. 777 | 18 |
| 1990 | Presley v. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Alabama | 744 F. Supp. 1051 | 17 |
| 1998 | Underwood v. Life Insurance Co. of Georgia | 14 F. Supp. 2d 1266 | 16 |
| 1995 | Hunt v. Tucker | 875 F. Supp. 1487 | 15 |
| 1996 | McAnnally v. Wyn South Molded Products, Inc. | 912 F. Supp. 512 | 13 |
| 1991 | Bowest Corp. v. Stafford (In Re Stafford) | 123 B.R. 415 | 13 |
| 1994 | Adelman v. Hub City Los Angeles Terminal, Inc. | 856 F. Supp. 1544 | 12 |
| 1996 | Martin v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. | 926 F. Supp. 1044 | 11 |
| 1999 | Johnson v. Nagle | 58 F. Supp. 2d 1303 | 10 |
| 1993 | Langston v. Carraway Methodist Hospitals of Alabama, Inc. | 840 F. Supp. 854 | 10 |
| 2001 | In Re Silicone Gel Breast Implants Liab. Litig. | 174 F. Supp. 2d 1242 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 40 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 L. Nelson?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Edwin L. Nelson to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 1990.
- Was Edwin L. Nelson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Edwin L. Nelson was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Edwin L. Nelson's confirmation vote?
- Edwin L. Nelson was confirmed by voice vote on January 23, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Edwin L. Nelson on?
- Edwin L. Nelson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
13 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).