Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from University of Kentucky College of Law in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1935–2022
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1981
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Kentucky College of Law 1960
- Succeeded
- Howard David Hermansdorfer
- Succeeded by
- Karen K. Caldwell
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Eastern District of Kentucky succeeded Howard David Hermansdorfer | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Wilhoit was assigned 5,135 district-court cases (1987–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 168 days across 5,135 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 390 of Wilhoit’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 328 were affirmed, 40 reversed or vacated, and 22 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, Wilhoit authored 37 published opinions for the court (1983–2006). Most cited: L.K. Comstock & Co. v. Becon Construction Co. (24 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | L.K. Comstock & Co. v. Becon Construction Co. | 932 F. Supp. 948 | 24 |
| 1986 | Eppes v. Snowden | 656 F. Supp. 1267 | 21 |
| 1984 | Gibbons Construction Co. v. Tenneco, Inc. (In Re Gibbons Construction, Inc.) | 46 B.R. 193 | 20 |
| 1989 | Cohen v. North Ridge Farms, Inc. | 712 F. Supp. 1265 | 18 |
| 1995 | Lagrew v. Hooks-SupeRx, Inc. | 905 F. Supp. 401 | 13 |
| 1993 | LK Comstock & Co., Inc. v. Becon Const. Co., Inc. | 932 F. Supp. 906 | 12 |
| 1986 | In Re Beverly Hills Fire Litigation | 639 F. Supp. 915 | 11 |
| 1999 | Louisa Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Co. | 94 F. Supp. 2d 804 | 9 |
| 1994 | Wells v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. | 919 F. Supp. 1047 | 8 |
| 1986 | Salyers v. Allied Corp. | 642 F. Supp. 442 | 8 |
| 1988 | May v. Oldfield | 698 F. Supp. 124 | 7 |
| 1986 | Green v. McGrath | 662 F. Supp. 337 | 7 |
| 1985 | Kefalas v. Bonnie Brae Farms, Inc. | 630 F. Supp. 6 | 7 |
| 2006 | Lexington Coal Co. v. Miller Buckfire, Lewis Ying & Co. | 340 B.R. 818 | 6 |
| 2001 | Kelly v. McFarland | 243 F. Supp. 2d 715 | 6 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 37 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 Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr.?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in 1981.
- Was Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. on?
- Henry Rupert Wilhoit Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (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.
40 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).