Who appointed James Harvie Wilkinson III?

President Ronald Reagan appointed James Harvie Wilkinson III to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1984.

Was James Harvie Wilkinson III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

James Harvie Wilkinson III was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was James Harvie Wilkinson III's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed James Harvie Wilkinson III 58–39 on August 9, 1984.

Fourth Circuit / Appointed 1984 / Active

James Harvie Wilkinson III

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and confirmed by the Senate 58–39, James Harvie Wilkinson III is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1972. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1944 · age 82
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1984
Confirmed: 58–39
Chief judge: Fourth Circuit, 1996 to 2003
Education: Yale 1967 · University of Virginia Law 1972
Succeeded: John Decker Butzner Jr.

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1984	Fourth Circuit succeeded John Decker Butzner Jr. chief judge 1996 to 2003	Reagan (R)	58–39

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

The Senate’s published per-senator roll-call records begin in 1989, so no senator-by-senator breakdown is available for this vote.

Education

Yale University	B.A.	1967
University of Virginia School of Law	J.D.	1972

Before the bench

Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.

U.S. Army	1968-1969
Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia	1970
Law clerk, Hon. Lewis F. Powell, Supreme Court of the United States	1972-1973
Faculty, University of Virginia School of Law, 1973-1978, 1983; associate professor, 1973-1978; professor	1983
Editorial page editor, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot	1978-1981
Deputy assistant attorney general, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice	1982-1983
Board member, Federal Judicial Center	1992-1996
Member, Judicial Conference of the United States	1996-2003

Judicial Record

In our data, Wilkinson authored 8 published opinions for the court (2007–2010). Most cited: Cozzarelli v. Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc. (328 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
2008	Cozzarelli v. Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc.	549 F.3d 618	328
2009	United States v. Jenkins	566 F.3d 160	99
2009	Walker v. Prince George's County, Md.	575 F.3d 426	94
2009	Virginia v. Reinhard	568 F.3d 110	28
2009	J.D. Ex Rel. Davis v. Kanawha County Board of Education	571 F.3d 381	18
2007	Miller v. Cunningham	512 F.3d 98	9
2009	Hunsberger v. Wood	583 F.3d 219	4
2010	News & Observer Publishing Co. v. Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority	612 F.3d 301	1

Showing the 8 most-cited of 8 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 Harvie Wilkinson III?: President Ronald Reagan appointed James Harvie Wilkinson III to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1984.
Was James Harvie Wilkinson III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: James Harvie Wilkinson III was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was James Harvie Wilkinson III's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed James Harvie Wilkinson III 58–39 on August 9, 1984.
Which court is James Harvie Wilkinson III on?: James Harvie Wilkinson III is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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42 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Data as of 2026-09-28. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).