Who appointed George Neves Leighton?

President Gerald Ford appointed George Neves Leighton to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1976.

Was George Neves Leighton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

George Neves Leighton was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was George Neves Leighton's confirmation vote?

George Neves Leighton was confirmed by voice vote on February 2, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of Illinois / Appointed 1976 / Served to 1987

George Neves Leighton

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and confirmed by voice vote, George Neves Leighton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1946. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1912–2018
Appointed by: Gerald Ford, 1976
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Howard 1940 · Harvard Law School 1946
Succeeded: Abraham Lincoln Marovitz
Succeeded by: James Henry Alesia

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1976	Northern District of Illinois succeeded Abraham Lincoln Marovitz	Ford (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

Howard University	A.B.	1940
Harvard Law School	LL.B.	1946

Judicial Record

In our data, Leighton authored 134 published opinions for the court (1976–1987). Most cited: United States v. Gold (73 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1979	United States v. Gold	470 F. Supp. 1336	73
1983	County of Cook v. Midcon Corp.	574 F. Supp. 902	62
1983	Ridge Gold Standard Liquors, Inc. v. Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc.	572 F. Supp. 1210	51
1978	Gulliver's Periodicals, Ltd. v. Chas. Levy Circulating Co.	455 F. Supp. 1197	44
1983	Kavanagh v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	566 F. Supp. 242	36
1982	Leigh v. Engle	535 F. Supp. 418	34
1985	Sherrod v. Berry	629 F. Supp. 159	30
1977	United States v. American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers of the National Ass'n of Realtors	442 F. Supp. 1072	30
1977	International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Rochford	425 F. Supp. 734	30
1978	Wessel Co., Inc. v. Yoffee & Beitman Management	457 F. Supp. 939	29
1981	Jandak v. Village of Brookfield	520 F. Supp. 815	28
1980	Harris v. Supreme Plastics, Inc. (In Re Supreme Plastics, Inc.)	8 B.R. 730	21
1982	Heyman v. Heyman	548 F. Supp. 1041	20
1981	St. James Hospital v. Harris	535 F. Supp. 751	17
1978	De La Fuente Ex Rel. De La Fuente v. Interstate Commerce Commission	451 F. Supp. 867	17

Showing the 15 most-cited of 134 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 Neves Leighton?: President Gerald Ford appointed George Neves Leighton to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1976.
Was George Neves Leighton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: George Neves Leighton was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was George Neves Leighton's confirmation vote?: George Neves Leighton was confirmed by voice vote on February 2, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was George Neves Leighton on?: George Neves Leighton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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