James Randolph Spencer
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, James Randolph Spencer was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1986
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Clark College (now Clark Atlanta) 1971 · Harvard Law School 1974
- Succeeded
- John Ashton MacKenzie
- Succeeded by
- Mary Hannah Lauck
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Eastern District of Virginia succeeded John Ashton MacKenzie | 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
| Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) | B.A. | 1971 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1974 |
| Howard University | M.Div. | 1985 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Spencer was assigned 4,736 district-court cases (1986–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 144 days across 4,735 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 255 of Spencer’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 223 were affirmed, 19 reversed or vacated, and 13 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, Spencer authored 124 published opinions for the court (1986–2011). Most cited: Sykes v. Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. (46 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Sykes v. Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. | 548 F. Supp. 2d 208 | 46 |
| 1987 | Haigh v. Matsushita Elec. Corp. of America | 676 F. Supp. 1332 | 46 |
| 1999 | GTE Wireless, Inc. v. Qualcomm, Inc. | 71 F. Supp. 2d 517 | 45 |
| 2000 | KPMG Peat Marwick, L.L.P. v. Estate of Nelco, Ltd. | 250 B.R. 74 | 42 |
| 2010 | Paramount Home Entertainment Inc. v. Circuit City Stores, Inc. | 445 B.R. 521 | 39 |
| 1991 | Pruett v. Thompson | 771 F. Supp. 1428 | 30 |
| 1997 | Cain v. COM. OF VIRGINIA | 982 F. Supp. 1132 | 29 |
| 1987 | Crawford Harbor Associates v. Blake Construction Co. | 661 F. Supp. 880 | 28 |
| 1997 | GTE South Incorporated v. Morrison | 957 F. Supp. 800 | 27 |
| 1998 | United States v. Reid | 19 F. Supp. 2d 534 | 23 |
| 2008 | TOOLCHEX, INC. v. Trainor | 634 F. Supp. 2d 586 | 22 |
| 2004 | Jones v. Tyson Foods, Inc. | 378 F. Supp. 2d 705 | 18 |
| 1991 | DeLong v. Thompson | 790 F. Supp. 594 | 18 |
| 1989 | Sullivan v. Snap-On Tools Corp. | 708 F. Supp. 750 | 18 |
| 2006 | Boleman Law Firm, P.C. v. United States Trustee | 355 B.R. 548 | 17 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 124 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 Randolph Spencer?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed James Randolph Spencer to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1986.
- Was James Randolph Spencer appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Randolph Spencer was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Randolph Spencer's confirmation vote?
- James Randolph Spencer was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Randolph Spencer on?
- James Randolph Spencer was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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 Eastern District of Virginia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).