Ernest C. Torres
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by voice vote, Ernest C. Torres was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. He earned a law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1968. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1941 · age 85
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1987
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Dartmouth College 1963 · Duke Law 1968
- Succeeded
- Bruce Marshall Selya
- Succeeded by
- John James McConnell Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | District of Rhode Island succeeded Bruce Marshall Selya | Reagan (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
| Dartmouth College | A.B. | 1963 |
| Duke University School of Law | J.D. | 1968 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Torres was assigned 2,658 district-court cases (1986–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 266 days across 2,656 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 30 of Torres’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 27 were affirmed, 2 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Torres authored 161 published opinions for the court (1988–2008). Most cited: United States v. Davis (38 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | United States v. Davis | 31 F. Supp. 2d 45 | 38 |
| 1990 | Dowling v. Narragansett Capital Corp. | 735 F. Supp. 1105 | 37 |
| 1991 | Gaudet v. Kirshenbaum Investment Co. (In Re Gaudet) | 132 B.R. 670 | 33 |
| 1993 | Marshall Contractors, Inc. v. Peerless Insurance | 827 F. Supp. 91 | 24 |
| 1993 | United States v. Saccoccia | 823 F. Supp. 994 | 23 |
| 1992 | Pontarelli v. Stone | 781 F. Supp. 114 | 23 |
| 1997 | Smith v. O'CONNELL | 986 F. Supp. 73 | 22 |
| 1998 | Smith v. O'CONNELL | 997 F. Supp. 226 | 21 |
| 1997 | Hodgens v. General Dynamics Corp. | 963 F. Supp. 102 | 19 |
| 2003 | Sarro v. Cornell Corrections, Inc. | 248 F. Supp. 2d 52 | 18 |
| 1995 | Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Kelly | 889 F. Supp. 535 | 18 |
| 1991 | Felice v. Rhode Island Board of Elections | 781 F. Supp. 100 | 16 |
| 2000 | Lng v. Loqa | 79 F. Supp. 2d 49 | 15 |
| 1989 | Smithfield Concerned Citizens for Fair Zoning v. Town of Smithfield Ex Rel. Rainville | 719 F. Supp. 75 | 15 |
| 2007 | United States v. Textron Inc. and Subsidiaries | 507 F. Supp. 2d 138 | 14 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 161 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 Ernest C. Torres?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Ernest C. Torres to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in 1987.
- Was Ernest C. Torres appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Ernest C. Torres was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Ernest C. Torres's confirmation vote?
- Ernest C. Torres was confirmed by voice vote on November 5, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Ernest C. Torres on?
- Ernest C. Torres was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Unknown authorUnknown author (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.
23 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).