James O. Browning
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by voice vote, James O. Browning is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1981. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1956 · age 70
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2003
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale 1978 · University of Virginia Law 1981
- Succeeded
- Curtis LeRoy Hansen
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | District of New Mexico succeeded Curtis LeRoy Hansen | G.W. Bush (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
| Yale University | B.A. | 1978 |
| University of Virginia School of Law | J.D. | 1981 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Browning was assigned 1,886 district-court cases (1994–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 294 days across 1,566 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 162 of Browning’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 140 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 11 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, Browning authored 327 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: Schaefer v. Las Cruces Public School District (85 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Schaefer v. Las Cruces Public School District | 716 F. Supp. 2d 1052 | 85 |
| 2010 | Lymon v. Aramark Corp. | 728 F. Supp. 2d 1222 | 73 |
| 2010 | Guidance Endodontics, LLC v. Dentsply International, Inc. | 708 F. Supp. 2d 1209 | 43 |
| 2009 | Train v. City of Albuquerque | 629 F. Supp. 2d 1243 | 40 |
| 2008 | Rimbert v. Eli Lilly and Co. | 577 F. Supp. 2d 1174 | 37 |
| 2010 | Saavedra v. Lowe's Home Centers, Inc. | 748 F. Supp. 2d 1273 | 30 |
| 2010 | Mosley v. Titus | 762 F. Supp. 2d 1298 | 29 |
| 2011 | Gerald v. Locksley | 785 F. Supp. 2d 1074 | 25 |
| 2009 | Alvarado v. Wynne | 626 F. Supp. 2d 1140 | 24 |
| 2007 | Applied Capital, Inc. v. Gibson | 558 F. Supp. 2d 1189 | 21 |
| 2005 | Morales v. E.D. Etnyre & Co. | 382 F. Supp. 2d 1252 | 21 |
| 2004 | Kelley v. City of Albuquerque | 375 F. Supp. 2d 1183 | 21 |
| 2011 | Two Old Hippies, LLC v. Catch the Bus, LLC | 784 F. Supp. 2d 1200 | 20 |
| 2010 | ADVANCED OPTICS ELECTRONICS, INC. v. Robins | 769 F. Supp. 2d 1285 | 20 |
| 2010 | Guidance Endodontics, LLC v. Dentsply International, Inc. | 749 F. Supp. 2d 1235 | 19 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 327 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 O. Browning?
- President George W. Bush appointed James O. Browning to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico in 2003.
- Was James O. Browning appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James O. Browning 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 O. Browning's confirmation vote?
- James O. Browning was confirmed by voice vote on July 31, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is James O. Browning on?
- James O. Browning is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico (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.
23 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).