James Lawrence King
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, James Lawrence King was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He earned a law degree from University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) in 1953. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1927–2026
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1970
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Florida 1949 · University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) 1953
- Succeeded by
- Joan A. Lenard
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Southern District of Florida | 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 Florida | B.A.E. | 1949 |
| University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) | LL.B. | 1953 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, King was assigned 9,413 district-court cases (1977–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 166 days across 9,405 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 442 of King’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 334 were affirmed, 84 reversed or vacated, and 24 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, King authored 459 published opinions for the court (1971–2011). Most cited: Poston v. American President Lines, Ltd. (75 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Poston v. American President Lines, Ltd. | 452 F. Supp. 568 | 75 |
| 1972 | Abercrombie v. Lum's Inc. | 345 F. Supp. 387 | 61 |
| 1977 | Brown v. Pena | 441 F. Supp. 1382 | 60 |
| 1980 | City of Gainesville v. Florida Power & Light Co. | 488 F. Supp. 1258 | 52 |
| 2010 | In Re Checking Account Overdraft Litigation | 694 F. Supp. 2d 1302 | 48 |
| 1982 | Cobb Coin Co. v. Unidentified, Wrecked & Abandoned Sailing Vessel | 549 F. Supp. 540 | 41 |
| 1971 | Pugh v. Rainwater | 332 F. Supp. 1107 | 38 |
| 1998 | Webb v. R&B Holding Co., Inc. | 992 F. Supp. 1382 | 34 |
| 1981 | Cobb Coin Co. v. Unidentified, Wrecked & Abandoned Sailing Vessel | 525 F. Supp. 186 | 33 |
| 1988 | Martin v. Dugger | 686 F. Supp. 1523 | 32 |
| 1985 | Interpool Ltd. v. Through Transport Mutual Insurance | 635 F. Supp. 1503 | 32 |
| 1977 | Bazal v. Belford Trucking Co., Inc. | 442 F. Supp. 1089 | 31 |
| 2009 | Reese v. JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 686 F. Supp. 2d 1291 | 30 |
| 1993 | Watson v. Rally Manufacturing Corp. | 844 F. Supp. 1533 | 30 |
| 1975 | Eastern Air Lines, Inc. v. Gulf Oil Corp. | 415 F. Supp. 429 | 30 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 459 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 Lawrence King?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed James Lawrence King to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1970.
- Was James Lawrence King appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Lawrence King 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 Lawrence King's confirmation vote?
- James Lawrence King was confirmed by voice vote on October 13, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Lawrence King on?
- James Lawrence King was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- 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.
55 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).