George Curtis Smith
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by voice vote, George Curtis Smith was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He earned a law degree from Ohio State University College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law) in 1959. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1935–2020
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1987
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Ohio State 1957 · Ohio State College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law) 1959
- Succeeded
- Joseph Peter Kinneary
- Succeeded by
- Gregory L. Frost
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Southern District of Ohio succeeded Joseph Peter Kinneary | 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
| Ohio State University | B.A. | 1957 |
| Ohio State University College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law) | J.D. | 1959 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Smith was assigned 5,110 district-court cases (1981–2020). Median time from filing to termination: 274 days across 5,108 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 200 of Smith’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 153 were affirmed, 21 reversed or vacated, and 26 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, Smith authored 113 published opinions for the court (1988–2011). Most cited: Van Hook v. Anderson (84 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Van Hook v. Anderson | 127 F. Supp. 2d 899 | 84 |
| 1993 | Martin v. Voinovich | 840 F. Supp. 1175 | 44 |
| 1992 | Conde v. Velsicol Chemical Corp. | 804 F. Supp. 972 | 41 |
| 1988 | Molina v. United States (In Re Molina) | 99 B.R. 792 | 41 |
| 2010 | Allen v. Ohio Department of Job & Family Services | 697 F. Supp. 2d 854 | 32 |
| 2002 | Martin v. Taft | 222 F. Supp. 2d 940 | 30 |
| 1992 | Harris v. BD. OF EDUC. OF COLUMBUS, OHIO | 798 F. Supp. 1331 | 30 |
| 1990 | In Re Fitak | 121 B.R. 224 | 28 |
| 1990 | Compuserve, Inc. v. Vigny International Finance Ltd. | 760 F. Supp. 1273 | 27 |
| 2011 | Jones v. St. Jude Medical S.C., Inc. | 823 F. Supp. 2d 699 | 25 |
| 2000 | United States v. Miami University | 91 F. Supp. 2d 1132 | 22 |
| 2002 | Victoria's Secret Stores v. Artco Equipment Co. | 194 F. Supp. 2d 704 | 20 |
| 2001 | Kallstrom v. City of Columbus | 165 F. Supp. 2d 686 | 20 |
| 1995 | United States v. Neufeld | 908 F. Supp. 491 | 16 |
| 1994 | Pappas v. Bethesda Hospital Ass'n | 861 F. Supp. 616 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 113 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 Curtis Smith?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed George Curtis Smith to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in 1987.
- Was George Curtis Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- George Curtis Smith was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was George Curtis Smith's confirmation vote?
- George Curtis Smith was confirmed by voice vote on November 6, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was George Curtis Smith on?
- George Curtis Smith was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (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 Southern District of Ohio. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).