Western District of Arkansas / Appointed 1980 / Served to 1990

George Howard Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, George Howard Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. He earned a law degree from University of Arkansas School of Law in 1954. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1924–2007
Appointed by
Jimmy Carter, 1980
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Arkansas 1954 · University of Arkansas Law 1954

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1980Western District of ArkansasCarter (D)Voice vote
1980Eastern District of ArkansasCarter (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Howard was assigned 4,481 district-court cases (1974–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 240 days across 4,481 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas36%
Civil rights19%
Personal-injury torts10%
Contract10%
Real property8%
Social Security6%
Other11%

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 56 of Howard’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 51 were affirmed, 5 reversed or vacated. 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, Howard authored 127 published opinions for the court (1980–2006). Most cited: Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Manatt (27 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

Showing the 15 most-cited of 127 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 George Howard Jr.?
President Jimmy Carter appointed George Howard Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in 1980.
Was George Howard Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
George Howard Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was George Howard Jr.'s confirmation vote?
George Howard Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 29, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was George Howard Jr. on?
George Howard Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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