James Hughes Hancock
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1973 and confirmed by voice vote, James Hughes Hancock was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He earned a law degree from University of Alabama School of Law in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–2020
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1973
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Alabama 1953 · University of Alabama Law 1957
- Succeeded
- Seybourn Harris Lynne
- Succeeded by
- Inge Prytz Johnson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Northern District of Alabama succeeded Seybourn Harris Lynne | Nixon (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 Alabama | B.S. | 1953 |
| University of Alabama School of Law | LL.B. | 1957 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Hancock was assigned 4,775 district-court cases (1985–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 219 days across 4,775 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 46 of Hancock’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 44 were affirmed, 1 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Hancock authored 59 published opinions for the court (1973–2010). Most cited: Cheatwood v. Roanoke Industries (36 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Cheatwood v. Roanoke Industries | 891 F. Supp. 1528 | 36 |
| 1974 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. United States Pipe & Foundry Co. | 375 F. Supp. 237 | 26 |
| 1985 | United States v. ILCO, Inc. (In Re ILCO, Inc.) | 48 B.R. 1016 | 25 |
| 1980 | Charles v. Brown | 495 F. Supp. 862 | 22 |
| 2000 | Butler v. Beer Across America | 83 F. Supp. 2d 1261 | 21 |
| 1992 | Bill's Forestry Service, Inc. v. Rasbury (In Re Rasbury) | 141 B.R. 752 | 21 |
| 1976 | Alabama Ex Rel. Baxley v. Corps of Engineers of the United States Army | 411 F. Supp. 1261 | 21 |
| 1992 | Maddox v. Norwood Clinic, Inc. | 783 F. Supp. 582 | 18 |
| 1995 | Ebrahimi v. City of Huntsville Board of Education | 905 F. Supp. 993 | 17 |
| 1994 | Waldrop v. Thigpen | 857 F. Supp. 872 | 17 |
| 1996 | Pouncy v. Vulcan Materials Co. | 920 F. Supp. 1566 | 16 |
| 2005 | Pinion Enterprises, Inc. v. Ashcroft | 371 F. Supp. 2d 1311 | 14 |
| 1991 | Chi-Boy Music v. Towne Tavern, Inc. | 779 F. Supp. 527 | 14 |
| 1974 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad | 368 F. Supp. 633 | 14 |
| 1996 | United States v. Chandler | 950 F. Supp. 1545 | 13 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 59 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 Hughes Hancock?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed James Hughes Hancock to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 1973.
- Was James Hughes Hancock appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Hughes Hancock was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Hughes Hancock's confirmation vote?
- James Hughes Hancock was confirmed by voice vote on April 10, 1973. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Hughes Hancock on?
- James Hughes Hancock was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
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.
47 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).