Gordon Thompson Jr.
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, Gordon Thompson Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2015
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1970
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Southern California 1951 · Southwestern Law 1956
- Succeeded by
- Jeffrey T. Miller
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Southern District of California | Nixon (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, Thompson was assigned 2,290 district-court cases (1970–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 251 days across 2,289 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, Thompson authored 61 published opinions for the court (1965–1994). Most cited: United States v. Dost (359 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | United States v. Dost | 636 F. Supp. 828 | 359 |
| 1991 | Zands v. Nelson | 779 F. Supp. 1254 | 49 |
| 1972 | United States v. DeBetham | 348 F. Supp. 1377 | 42 |
| 1992 | Zands v. Nelson | 797 F. Supp. 805 | 33 |
| 1976 | Loc. Joint Exec. Bd., AFL-CIO v. Hotel Circle, Inc. | 419 F. Supp. 778 | 27 |
| 1992 | Service Employees International Union, Local 102 v. County of San Diego | 784 F. Supp. 1503 | 24 |
| 1975 | Steele v. United States | 390 F. Supp. 1109 | 19 |
| 1991 | Murphy v. Bilbray | 782 F. Supp. 1420 | 16 |
| 1985 | Matter of Escondido West Travelodge | 52 B.R. 376 | 16 |
| 1976 | Western Telecasters, Inc. v. California Federation of Labor | 415 F. Supp. 30 | 16 |
| 1989 | Dwyer v. United States | 716 F. Supp. 1337 | 15 |
| 1978 | United States v. Abatti | 463 F. Supp. 596 | 15 |
| 1976 | Virgil v. Sports Illustrated | 424 F. Supp. 1286 | 14 |
| 1990 | Flagship Federal Savings Bank v. Wall | 748 F. Supp. 742 | 13 |
| 1975 | Eichen v. EF Hutton & Co., Inc. | 402 F. Supp. 823 | 12 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 61 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 Gordon Thompson Jr.?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Gordon Thompson Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1970.
- Was Gordon Thompson Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Gordon Thompson Jr. was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Gordon Thompson Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Gordon Thompson Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on October 13, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Gordon Thompson Jr. on?
- Gordon Thompson Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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.
44 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).