Who appointed James Clinkscales Hill?

President Gerald Ford appointed James Clinkscales Hill to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1976.

Was James Clinkscales Hill appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James Clinkscales Hill was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James Clinkscales Hill's confirmation vote?

James Clinkscales Hill was confirmed by voice vote on May 19, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Eleventh Circuit / Appointed 1981 / Served to 2017

James Clinkscales Hill

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and confirmed by voice vote, James Clinkscales Hill was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He earned a law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1948. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1924–2017
Appointed by: Gerald Ford, 1976
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of South Carolina 1948 · Emory Law 1948
Succeeded by: Stanley F. Birch Jr.

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1974	Northern District of Georgia succeeded Sidney Oslin Smith Jr.	Nixon (R)	Voice vote
1976	Fifth Circuit succeeded Griffin Boyette Bell	Ford (R)	Voice vote
1981	Eleventh Circuit	Reassigned	–

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 South Carolina	B.Sc.	1948
Emory University School of Law	J.D.	1948

Judicial Record

In our data, Hill authored 27 published opinions for the court (1974–1977). Most cited: Inman Park Restoration, Inc. v. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (26 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1976	Inman Park Restoration, Inc. v. Urban Mass Transportation Administration	414 F. Supp. 99	26
1975	Georgia Power Project v. Georgia Power Company	409 F. Supp. 332	22
1975	Smith v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company	395 F. Supp. 1098	20
1974	Coca-Cola Company v. Howard Johnson Company	386 F. Supp. 330	20
1975	Doe v. AFL-CIO, Department of Organization, Region 6	405 F. Supp. 389	18
1975	Dew v. McLendon Gardens Associates	394 F. Supp. 1223	17
1975	Preferred Surfacing, Inc. v. Gwinnett Bank & Trust Co.	400 F. Supp. 280	16
1975	Cleveland Lumber Company v. Proctor & Schwartz, Inc.	397 F. Supp. 1088	14
1977	Ivey v. United States Department of Housing & Urban Development	428 F. Supp. 1337	13
1975	Chase Manhattan Mortgage & Realty Trust v. Pendley	405 F. Supp. 593	12
1975	Dobbs v. Train	409 F. Supp. 432	12
1975	McDaniel v. Fulton National Bank of Atlanta	395 F. Supp. 422	12
1975	Communications Workers of America v. Western Electric Co.	397 F. Supp. 1318	11
1976	Dawson v. United States Department of Housing & Urban Development	428 F. Supp. 328	9
1976	Adams v. Smith	415 F. Supp. 787	9

Showing the 15 most-cited of 27 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 Clinkscales Hill?: President Gerald Ford appointed James Clinkscales Hill to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1976.
Was James Clinkscales Hill appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James Clinkscales Hill was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Clinkscales Hill's confirmation vote?: James Clinkscales Hill was confirmed by voice vote on May 19, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was James Clinkscales Hill on?: James Clinkscales Hill was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

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35 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).