Southern District of Indiana / Appointed 2018 / Active
Portrait of James Russell Sweeney II

James Russell Sweeney II

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Appointed by President Donald J. Trump in 2018 and confirmed by voice vote, James Russell Sweeney II is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. He earned a law degree from Notre Dame Law School in 1996. Sources ↓

Born
1961 · age 65
Appointed by
Donald J. Trump, 2018
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
U.S. Naval Academy 1983 · Notre Dame Law School 1996

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
2018Southern District of IndianaTrump (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Sweeney was assigned 4,302 district-court cases (1993–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 192 days across 3,143 closed cases.

Other civil matters61%
Prisoner & habeas15%
Civil rights7%
Personal-injury torts5%
Other federal statutes5%
Contract2%
Other6%

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 83 of Sweeney’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 68 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 4 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.

Questions & answers

Who appointed James Russell Sweeney II?
President Donald J. Trump appointed James Russell Sweeney II to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in 2018.
Was James Russell Sweeney II appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
James Russell Sweeney II was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Russell Sweeney II's confirmation vote?
James Russell Sweeney II was confirmed by voice vote on August 28, 2018. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is James Russell Sweeney II on?
James Russell Sweeney II is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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