Who appointed James Kelleher Bredar?

President Barack Obama appointed James Kelleher Bredar to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 2010.

Was James Kelleher Bredar appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James Kelleher Bredar was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James Kelleher Bredar's confirmation vote?

James Kelleher Bredar was confirmed by voice vote on December 16, 2010. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Maryland / Appointed 2010 / Senior status since 2024

James Kelleher Bredar

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 and confirmed by voice vote, James Kelleher Bredar is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1957 · age 69
Appointed by: Barack Obama, 2010
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Harvard 1979 · Georgetown Law Center 1982
Succeeded: J. Frederick Motz
Succeeded by: Adam Ben Abelson

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2010	District of Maryland succeeded J. Frederick Motz	Obama (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

Harvard University	B.A.	1979
Georgetown University Law Center	J.D.	1982

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Bredar was assigned 2,556 district-court cases (1997–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 181 days across 2,255 closed cases.

Other civil matters24%

Contract10%

Personal-injury torts10%

Criminal10%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Labor & ERISA8%

Other29%

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 266 of Bredar’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 230 were affirmed, 27 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Bredar authored 28 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: Fireman's Fund Insurance v. Tecumseh Products Co. (31 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	Fireman's Fund Insurance v. Tecumseh Products Co.	767 F. Supp. 2d 549	31
2006	In Re the United States for Orders Authorizing the Installation	416 F. Supp. 2d 390	25
2011	Windsor v. SPINNER INDUSTRY CO., LTD.	825 F. Supp. 2d 632	18
2011	Clark v. Unum Life Insurance of America	799 F. Supp. 2d 527	18
2005	In Re Application for Order of a Pen Register	402 F. Supp. 2d 597	17
2006	In Re for an Order Authorizing the Installation & Use of a Pen Register and Directing the Disclosure of Telecommunications Records	439 F. Supp. 2d 456	15
1999	Blue Ridge Insurance v. Puig	64 F. Supp. 2d 514	9
2011	McInnes v. Lord Baltimore Employee Retirement Income Account Plan	823 F. Supp. 2d 360	7
2006	Maryland State Conference v. Maryland State Police	454 F. Supp. 2d 339	5
2001	United States v. Wallen	177 F. Supp. 2d 455	5
2011	Neel v. Mid-Atlantic of Fairfield, LLC	778 F. Supp. 2d 593	4
2011	Windsor v. SPINNER INDUSTRY CO., LTD.	825 F. Supp. 2d 640	3
2011	Solis v. LOCAL 9477	798 F. Supp. 2d 701	3
2011	Smith v. ALACRITY SERVICES, LLC	778 F. Supp. 2d 606	3
2004	Kurtz v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.	338 F. Supp. 2d 620	2

Showing the 15 most-cited of 28 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 James Kelleher Bredar?: President Barack Obama appointed James Kelleher Bredar to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 2010.
Was James Kelleher Bredar appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James Kelleher Bredar was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Kelleher Bredar's confirmation vote?: James Kelleher Bredar was confirmed by voice vote on December 16, 2010. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is James Kelleher Bredar on?: James Kelleher Bredar is 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.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

15 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).