James Clinton Turk
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, James Clinton Turk was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1952. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1923–2014
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Roanoke College 1949 · Washington and Lee Law 1952
- Succeeded
- Hiram Emory Widener Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Glen Edward Conrad
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Western District of Virginia succeeded Hiram Emory Widener Jr. | Nixon (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
| Roanoke College | A.B. | 1949 |
| Washington and Lee University School of Law | LL.B. | 1952 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Turk was assigned 7,094 district-court cases (1977–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 154 days across 7,092 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 138 of Turk’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 121 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 6 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, Turk authored 293 published opinions for the court (1973–2011). Most cited: West v. Costen (60 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | West v. Costen | 558 F. Supp. 564 | 60 |
| 1981 | UNITED VIRGINIA BANK v. Fussell (In Re Fussell) | 15 B.R. 1016 | 53 |
| 1996 | Brown v. Angelone | 938 F. Supp. 340 | 48 |
| 1981 | United Virginia Bank v. Virginia Foundry Co. (In Re Virginia Foundry Co.) | 9 B.R. 493 | 48 |
| 1974 | Smith v. Allen-Bradley Company | 371 F. Supp. 698 | 43 |
| 2000 | Ashann-Ra v. Com. of Va. | 112 F. Supp. 2d 559 | 38 |
| 1982 | Kenney's Franchise Corp. v. Central Fidelity Bank NA, Lynchburg | 22 B.R. 747 | 34 |
| 1981 | Falwell v. Penthouse International, Ltd. | 521 F. Supp. 1204 | 34 |
| 1980 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Virginia Carolina Veneer Corp. | 495 F. Supp. 775 | 34 |
| 2003 | Shaw v. Ehrlich | 294 B.R. 260 | 28 |
| 1982 | Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley, Inc. v. Musser (In Re Musser) | 24 B.R. 913 | 28 |
| 2001 | Shelton v. Angelone | 148 F. Supp. 2d 670 | 27 |
| 1977 | Goldberg Co. v. County Green Ltd. Partnership | 438 F. Supp. 693 | 27 |
| 1977 | Davis v. Zahradnick | 432 F. Supp. 444 | 27 |
| 1987 | Omega Homes, Inc. v. Citicorp Acceptance Co. | 656 F. Supp. 393 | 26 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 293 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 Clinton Turk?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed James Clinton Turk to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in 1972.
- Was James Clinton Turk appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Clinton Turk was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Clinton Turk's confirmation vote?
- James Clinton Turk was confirmed by voice vote on October 12, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Clinton Turk on?
- James Clinton Turk was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Foster Studio (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.
41 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).