Who appointed James S. Gwin?

President William J. Clinton appointed James S. Gwin to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1997.

Was James S. Gwin appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James S. Gwin was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James S. Gwin's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed James S. Gwin 100–0 on November 5, 1997.

Northern District of Ohio / Appointed 1997 / Senior status since 2021

James S. Gwin

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1997 and confirmed by the Senate 100–0, James S. Gwin is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He earned a law degree from University of Akron School of Law in 1979. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1954 · age 72
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1997
Confirmed: 100–0
Education: Kenyon College 1976 · University of Akron Law 1979
Succeeded: Samuel H. Bell
Succeeded by: Charles Esque Fleming

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1997	Northern District of Ohio succeeded Samuel H. Bell	Clinton (D)	100–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 100–0 on November 5, 1997 · 105th Congress, Roll Call 293. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 100

45 D, 55 R

Education

Kenyon College	A.B.	1976
University of Akron School of Law	J.D.	1979

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Gwin was assigned 4,536 district-court cases (1990–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 142 days across 4,530 closed cases.

Civil rights16%

Contract14%

Prisoner & habeas13%

Labor & ERISA12%

Personal-injury torts9%

Other federal statutes9%

Other27%

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 469 of Gwin’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 355 were affirmed, 67 reversed or vacated, and 47 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, Gwin authored 190 published opinions for the court (1997–2011). Most cited: In Re Meridia Products Liability Litigation (56 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
2004	In Re Meridia Products Liability Litigation	328 F. Supp. 2d 791	56
2002	Barkley v. Konteh	240 F. Supp. 2d 708	41
1998	Gupta v. Terra Nitrogen Corp.	10 F. Supp. 2d 879	39
1999	Plating Resources, Inc. v. UTI Corp.	47 F. Supp. 2d 899	31
2008	AWG Leasing Trust v. United States	592 F. Supp. 2d 953	26
2009	Frisby v. Keith D. Weiner & Associates Co., LPA	669 F. Supp. 2d 863	22
1998	Dorricott v. Fairhill Center for Aging	2 F. Supp. 2d 982	22
2002	Austin v. Wilkinson	189 F. Supp. 2d 719	20
2001	Lawler v. Fireman's Fund Insurance	163 F. Supp. 2d 841	19
2008	Wasniewski v. Grzelak-Johannsen	549 F. Supp. 2d 965	18
2001	Wright v. City of Canton, Ohio	138 F. Supp. 2d 955	18
2001	Westco Group, Inc. v. K.B. & Associates, Inc.	128 F. Supp. 2d 1082	18
1999	Dennis v. Mitchell	68 F. Supp. 2d 863	18
2000	Massey v. Akron City Board of Education	82 F. Supp. 2d 735	16
1999	Brown v. Renter's Choice, Inc.	55 F. Supp. 2d 788	16

Showing the 15 most-cited of 190 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 S. Gwin?: President William J. Clinton appointed James S. Gwin to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1997.
Was James S. Gwin appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James S. Gwin was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James S. Gwin's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed James S. Gwin 100–0 on November 5, 1997.
Which court is James S. Gwin on?: James S. Gwin is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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.

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