Western District of Texas / Appointed 1979 / Served to 2016

Harry Lee Hudspeth

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

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Harry Lee Hudspeth was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1935–2024
Appointed by
Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Texas 1955 · University of Texas Law 1958
Succeeded by
Alia Moses

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1979Western District of TexasCarter (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, Hudspeth was assigned 2,175 district-court cases (1984–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 224 days across 2,163 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas26%
Civil rights17%
Contract13%
Personal-injury torts11%
Labor & ERISA8%
Real property6%
Other20%

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 145 of Hudspeth’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 123 were affirmed, 14 reversed or vacated, and 8 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, Hudspeth authored 41 published opinions for the court (1980–2011). Most cited: United States v. Castello (25 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1981United States v. Castello526 F. Supp. 84725
1980DeLauri v. United States492 F. Supp. 44216
1999Texas v. Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo79 F. Supp. 2d 70811
1996Astorga v. Connleaf, Inc.962 F. Supp. 9310
1991United States v. Hartec Enterprises, Inc.130 B.R. 92910
1980Fashing v. Moore489 F. Supp. 47110
1989Watson v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance715 F. Supp. 7979
1987United States v. JT Const. Co., Inc.668 F. Supp. 5928
1980City of El Paso v. Autobuses Internacionales S. De R. L.526 F. Supp. 58
1996Carlos v. White Consolidated Industries, Inc.934 F. Supp. 2277
1985United States v. Ontiveros-Lucero621 F. Supp. 10377
1984Sierra v. El Paso Independent School District591 F. Supp. 8027
1993Portillo v. United States816 F. Supp. 4446
1989Soto v. Tonka Corp.716 F. Supp. 9776
1981Green v. Arnold512 F. Supp. 6506

Showing the 15 most-cited of 41 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 Harry Lee Hudspeth?
President Jimmy Carter appointed Harry Lee Hudspeth to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 1979.
Was Harry Lee Hudspeth appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Harry Lee Hudspeth was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Harry Lee Hudspeth's confirmation vote?
Harry Lee Hudspeth was confirmed by voice vote on November 26, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Harry Lee Hudspeth on?
Harry Lee Hudspeth was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

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.

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