Who appointed Jeffrey Lynn Viken?

President Barack Obama appointed Jeffrey Lynn Viken to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in 2009.

Was Jeffrey Lynn Viken appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Jeffrey Lynn Viken was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Jeffrey Lynn Viken's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Jeffrey Lynn Viken 99–0 on September 29, 2009.

District of South Dakota / Appointed 2009 / Served to 2023

Jeffrey Lynn Viken

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the Senate 99–0, Jeffrey Lynn Viken was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. He earned a law degree from University of South Dakota School of Law (now Knudson School of Law) in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1952 · age 74
Appointed by: Barack Obama, 2009
Confirmed: 99–0
Education: University of South Dakota 1974 · University of South Dakota Law (now Knudson School of Law) 1977
Succeeded: Lawrence L. Piersol
Succeeded by: Camela Catherine Theeler

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2009	District of South Dakota succeeded Lawrence L. Piersol	Obama (D)	99–0

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

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 99–0 on September 29, 2009 · 111th Congress, Roll Call 299. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 99

57 D, 40 R, 2 I

Did not vote · 1

1 D

Robert Byrd(D-WV)

Education

University of South Dakota	B.A.	1974
University of South Dakota School of Law (now Knudson School of Law)	J.D.	1977

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Viken was assigned 626 district-court cases (2002–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 338 days across 626 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts24%

Contract16%

Prisoner & habeas14%

Civil rights11%

Other civil matters8%

Other federal statutes8%

Other20%

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 86 of Viken’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 77 were affirmed, 8 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Viken authored 7 published opinions for the court (2010–2011). Most cited: State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Valspar Corp. (12 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
2010	State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Valspar Corp.	824 F. Supp. 2d 923	12
2010	Bear v. Fleming	714 F. Supp. 2d 972	3
2010	Lucero v. Bush	737 F. Supp. 2d 992	2
2010	United States v. Sepulveda-Sandoval	729 F. Supp. 2d 1078	2
2011	HONG YIN v. Frazier	804 F. Supp. 2d 969	1
2011	Pochat v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance	772 F. Supp. 2d 1062	1
2011	FRIENDS OF THE NORBECK v. US Forest Service	780 F. Supp. 2d 975	0

Showing the 7 most-cited of 7 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 Jeffrey Lynn Viken?: President Barack Obama appointed Jeffrey Lynn Viken to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in 2009.
Was Jeffrey Lynn Viken appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Jeffrey Lynn Viken was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Jeffrey Lynn Viken's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Jeffrey Lynn Viken 99–0 on September 29, 2009.
Which court was Jeffrey Lynn Viken on?: Jeffrey Lynn Viken was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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