Who appointed James C. Mahan?

President George W. Bush appointed James C. Mahan to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2002.

Was James C. Mahan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James C. Mahan was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James C. Mahan's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed James C. Mahan 81–0 on January 25, 2002.

District of Nevada / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2018

James C. Mahan

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by the Senate 81–0, James C. Mahan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. He earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1943 · age 83
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: 81–0
Education: Morris Harvey College (now of Charleston) 1965 · Vanderbilt Law School 1973
Succeeded by: Cristina Dionne Silva

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2002	District of Nevada	G.W. Bush (R)	81–0

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

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 81–0 on January 25, 2002 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 5. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 81

42 D, 38 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 19

8 D, 11 R

Education

Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston)	B.A.	1965
Vanderbilt University Law School	J.D.	1973

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Mahan was assigned 6,212 district-court cases (1989–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 255 days across 5,930 closed cases.

Other civil matters18%

Other federal statutes14%

Prisoner & habeas11%

Contract10%

Civil rights10%

Criminal10%

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 612 of Mahan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 449 were affirmed, 98 reversed or vacated, and 65 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, Mahan authored 8 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: United States v. Acosta (14 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
2005	United States v. Acosta	357 F. Supp. 2d 1228	14
2008	Merrick v. Paul Revere Life Insurance	594 F. Supp. 2d 1168	13
2008	American Civil Liberties Union v. Cortez Masto	719 F. Supp. 2d 1258	9
2004	Council of Insurance Agents + Brokers v. Molasky-Arman	358 F. Supp. 2d 981	2
2010	Angle v. Miller	722 F. Supp. 2d 1206	1
2011	Trustees of Operating Engineers Pension Trust v. Thornton Concrete Pumping, Inc.	806 F. Supp. 2d 1135	0
2011	Rader v. TEVA PARENTAL MEDICINES, INC.	795 F. Supp. 2d 1143	0
2009	Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. v. Mitchell (In Re Mitchell)	423 B.R. 914	0

Showing the 8 most-cited of 8 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 C. Mahan?: President George W. Bush appointed James C. Mahan to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2002.
Was James C. Mahan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James C. Mahan was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James C. Mahan's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed James C. Mahan 81–0 on January 25, 2002.
Which court is James C. Mahan on?: James C. Mahan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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