Who appointed James Lopez Watson?

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed James Lopez Watson to the U.S. Customs Court in 1966.

Was James Lopez Watson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James Lopez Watson 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 Lopez Watson's confirmation vote?

James Lopez Watson was confirmed by voice vote on March 4, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

U.S. Court of International Trade / Appointed 1980 / Served to 2001

James Lopez Watson

Judge, U.S. Court of International Trade

Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and confirmed by voice vote, James Lopez Watson was a Judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade. He earned a law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1951. He previously served on the U.S. Customs Court. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1922–2001
Appointed by: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: New York 1947 · Brooklyn Law School 1951
Succeeded by: Donald Carl Pogue

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1966	U.S. Customs Court succeeded Jed Joseph Johnson	L.B. Johnson (D)	Voice vote
1980	U.S. Court of International Trade	Reassigned	–

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

New York University	B.A.	1947
Brooklyn Law School	LL.B.	1951

Judicial Record

In our data, Watson authored 112 published opinions for the court (1972–2001). Most cited: Daewoo Electronics Co., Ltd. v. United States (68 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1989	Daewoo Electronics Co., Ltd. v. United States	712 F. Supp. 931	68
1980	Royal Business MacHines, Inc. v. United States	507 F. Supp. 1007	68
1986	American Permac, Inc. v. United States	642 F. Supp. 1187	40
1986	Zenith Electronics Corp. v. United States	633 F. Supp. 1382	34
1984	Republic Steel Corp. v. United States	591 F. Supp. 640	32
1987	Stidham v. United States Department of Labor	669 F. Supp. 432	31
1991	Zenith Electronics Corp. v. United States	770 F. Supp. 648	30
1989	AOC International, Inc. v. United States	721 F. Supp. 314	19
1981	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. United States	529 F. Supp. 664	19
1992	United States v. Menard, Inc.	795 F. Supp. 1182	16
2000	Hoogovens Staal BV v. United States	86 F. Supp. 2d 1317	15
1985	American Grape Growers v. United States	604 F. Supp. 1245	15
1983	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. United States	569 F. Supp. 853	15
1999	AIMCOR, Alabama Silicon, Inc. v. United States	83 F. Supp. 2d 1293	14
1991	Daewoo Electronics Co., Ltd. v. United States	760 F. Supp. 200	14

Showing the 15 most-cited of 112 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 Lopez Watson?: President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed James Lopez Watson to the U.S. Customs Court in 1966.
Was James Lopez Watson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James Lopez Watson 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 Lopez Watson's confirmation vote?: James Lopez Watson was confirmed by voice vote on March 4, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was James Lopez Watson on?: James Lopez Watson was a Judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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20 years on the U.S. Court of International Trade. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).