Western District of North Carolina / Appointed 1968 / Served to 1995

James Bryan McMillan

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina

Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 and confirmed by voice vote, James Bryan McMillan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1940. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1916–1995
Appointed by
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of North Carolina 1937 · Harvard Law School 1940

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1968Western District of North Carolina
succeeded Wilson Warlick
L.B. Johnson (D)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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, McMillan was assigned 71 district-court cases (1986–1991). Median time from filing to termination: 1,058 days across 71 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas27%
Contract24%
Civil rights18%
Personal-injury torts10%
Bankruptcy7%
Forfeiture & penalty4%
Other10%

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.

In our data, McMillan authored 246 published opinions for the court (1968–1993). Most cited: Brown v. Rice (41 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1988Brown v. Rice693 F. Supp. 38141
1976In Re Penny414 F. Supp. 111340
1971United States v. Central Motor Lines, Inc.338 F. Supp. 53237
1984Keeten v. Garrison578 F. Supp. 116436
1971Culp v. Bounds325 F. Supp. 41633
1984Hyatt v. Heckler579 F. Supp. 98531
1977Burroughs v. Local Acceptance Co.432 F. Supp. 75230
1972Givens v. Poe346 F. Supp. 20228
1988Llewellyn v. Celanese Corp.693 F. Supp. 36927
1978CF Industries, Inc. v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp.448 F. Supp. 47526
1969Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education306 F. Supp. 129122
1984Hyatt v. Heckler586 F. Supp. 115421
1988Thomas S. Ex Rel. Brooks v. Flaherty699 F. Supp. 117820
1984Thomas S. Ex Rel. Brooks v. Morrow601 F. Supp. 105520
1983Carter v. Morrow562 F. Supp. 31120

Showing the 15 most-cited of 246 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 Bryan McMillan?
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed James Bryan McMillan to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 1968.
Was James Bryan McMillan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
James Bryan McMillan was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Bryan McMillan's confirmation vote?
James Bryan McMillan was confirmed by voice vote on June 6, 1968. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was James Bryan McMillan on?
James Bryan McMillan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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