James F. Holderman
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, James F. Holderman was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from University of Illinois College of Law in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1946 · age 80
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Illinois 1968 · University of Illinois College of Law 1971
- Succeeded by
- John Robert Blakey
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Northern District of Illinois | 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
| University of Illinois | B.S. | 1968 |
| University of Illinois College of Law | J.D. | 1971 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Holderman was assigned 6,438 district-court cases (1981–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 144 days across 6,434 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 100 of Holderman’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 86 were affirmed, 8 reversed or vacated, and 6 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, Holderman authored 173 published opinions for the court (1985–2011). Most cited: Wieboldt Stores, Inc. v. Schottenstein (97 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Wieboldt Stores, Inc. v. Schottenstein | 94 B.R. 488 | 97 |
| 1990 | Spaulding & Co. v. Buchanan (In Re Spaulding & Co.) | 131 B.R. 84 | 51 |
| 1991 | Wieboldt Stores, Inc. Ex Rel. Raleigh v. Schottenstein | 131 B.R. 655 | 37 |
| 2011 | CustomGuide v. CAREERBUILDER, LLC | 813 F. Supp. 2d 990 | 35 |
| 1991 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Miller | 781 F. Supp. 1271 | 31 |
| 1993 | United States v. Burnside | 824 F. Supp. 1215 | 28 |
| 1990 | Wieboldt Stores, Inc. v. Schottenstein | 111 B.R. 162 | 25 |
| 1989 | Armstrong v. Edelson | 718 F. Supp. 1372 | 24 |
| 2001 | United States v. City of Chicago Heights | 161 F. Supp. 2d 819 | 21 |
| 2000 | Berthold Types Ltd. v. European Mikrograf Corp. | 102 F. Supp. 2d 928 | 20 |
| 1988 | Khan v. Grotnes Metalforming Systems, Inc. | 679 F. Supp. 751 | 20 |
| 1986 | Ransburg Corp. v. Champion Spark Plug Co. | 648 F. Supp. 1040 | 20 |
| 1993 | Davis v. Mahlmann (In Re Mahlmann) | 149 B.R. 866 | 16 |
| 2002 | Neff v. Capital Acquisitions & Management Co. | 238 F. Supp. 2d 986 | 15 |
| 1995 | Emmel v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Chicago, Inc. | 904 F. Supp. 723 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 173 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 F. Holderman?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed James F. Holderman to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1985.
- Was James F. Holderman appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James F. Holderman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James F. Holderman's confirmation vote?
- James F. Holderman was confirmed by voice vote on April 3, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James F. Holderman on?
- James F. Holderman was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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.
30 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).