Howell Cobb
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, Howell Cobb was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1948. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1922–2005
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Virginia Law 1948
- Succeeded by
- Ron Clark
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Eastern District of Texas | 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
| University of Virginia School of Law | LL.B. | 1948 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Cobb was assigned 4,238 district-court cases (1978–2005). Median time from filing to termination: 197 days across 4,234 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 12 of Cobb’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 10 were affirmed, 2 reversed or vacated. 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, Cobb authored 337 published opinions for the court (1985–2005). Most cited: Hanby v. Shell Oil Co. (828 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Hanby v. Shell Oil Co. | 144 F. Supp. 2d 673 | 828 |
| 2001 | Broyles v. U.S. Gypsum Co. | 266 B.R. 778 | 65 |
| 2005 | Elam v. Barnhart | 386 F. Supp. 2d 746 | 44 |
| 1986 | Fletcher v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co. | 648 F. Supp. 1400 | 36 |
| 1992 | Alma Torreblanca De Aguilar v. Boeing Co. | 806 F. Supp. 139 | 28 |
| 1987 | Streetman v. Lynaugh | 674 F. Supp. 229 | 28 |
| 1986 | Viterbo v. Dow Chemical Co. | 646 F. Supp. 1420 | 28 |
| 1995 | First Bank & Trust v. Gross (In Re Reid) | 179 B.R. 504 | 26 |
| 1996 | Whitworth v. TNT Bestway Transportation Inc. | 914 F. Supp. 1434 | 25 |
| 1997 | Huong v. City of Port Arthur | 961 F. Supp. 1003 | 24 |
| 1986 | Hurley v. Lederle Laboratories, Division of American Cyanamid Co. | 651 F. Supp. 993 | 24 |
| 2000 | Campbell v. Baldwin | 90 F. Supp. 2d 754 | 23 |
| 1994 | O'CONNOR v. Automobile Ins. Co. of Hartford, Conn. | 846 F. Supp. 39 | 22 |
| 1990 | Brock v. Entre Computer Centers, Inc. | 740 F. Supp. 428 | 22 |
| 1987 | Wallace v. American Petrofina, Inc. | 659 F. Supp. 829 | 22 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 337 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 Howell Cobb?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Howell Cobb to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 1985.
- Was Howell Cobb appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Howell Cobb was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Howell Cobb's confirmation vote?
- Howell Cobb was confirmed by voice vote on April 3, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Howell Cobb on?
- Howell Cobb was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
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.
20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).