J. Frederick Motz
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, J. Frederick Motz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1967. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1942–2023
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Wesleyan 1964 · University of Virginia Law 1967
- Succeeded by
- James Kelleher Bredar
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | District of Maryland | 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
| Wesleyan University | A.B. | 1964 |
| University of Virginia School of Law | LL.B. | 1967 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Motz was assigned 10,957 district-court cases (1979–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 172 days across 10,957 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 461 of Motz’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 402 were affirmed, 39 reversed or vacated, and 20 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, Motz authored 415 published opinions for the court (1985–2011). Most cited: Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. v. Montgomery County (445 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. v. Montgomery County | 788 F. Supp. 2d 431 | 445 |
| 2011 | Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. v. Severstal Sparrows Point, LLC | 794 F. Supp. 2d 602 | 415 |
| 2011 | Scott v. Nuvell Financial Services LLC | 789 F. Supp. 2d 637 | 167 |
| 2004 | Schramm v. Foster | 341 F. Supp. 2d 536 | 83 |
| 2001 | In Re Microsoft Corp. Antitrust Litigation | 127 F. Supp. 2d 702 | 57 |
| 2009 | 180S, Inc. v. Gordini U.S.A., Inc. | 602 F. Supp. 2d 635 | 44 |
| 1995 | Joseph M. Coleman & Associates, Ltd. v. Colonial Metals | 887 F. Supp. 116 | 44 |
| 2003 | Schultz v. Braga | 290 F. Supp. 2d 637 | 43 |
| 2002 | Carson v. Giant Food, Inc. | 187 F. Supp. 2d 462 | 43 |
| 1996 | In Re American Honda Motor Co. Dealerships Litig. | 941 F. Supp. 528 | 42 |
| 2008 | Ben-Joseph v. Mt. Airy Auto Transporters, LLC | 529 F. Supp. 2d 604 | 40 |
| 1986 | Cox v. Baltimore County | 646 F. Supp. 761 | 36 |
| 2006 | James v. Frederick County Public Schools | 441 F. Supp. 2d 755 | 35 |
| 1995 | Knox v. Lanham | 895 F. Supp. 750 | 30 |
| 1991 | In Re Sabin Oral Polio Vaccine Products Liability Litigation | 774 F. Supp. 952 | 29 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 415 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 J. Frederick Motz?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed J. Frederick Motz to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 1985.
- Was J. Frederick Motz appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- J. Frederick Motz was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was J. Frederick Motz's confirmation vote?
- J. Frederick Motz was confirmed by voice vote on July 11, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was J. Frederick Motz on?
- J. Frederick Motz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of Maryland (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.
38 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).