Joe Billy McDade
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, Joe Billy McDade is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1963. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1937 · age 89
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1991
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Bradley 1959 · University of Michigan Law School 1963
- Succeeded by
- Sara Lynn Darrow
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Central District of Illinois | G.H.W. Bush (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
| Bradley University | B.S. | 1959 |
| Bradley University | M.S. | 1960 |
| University of Michigan Law School | J.D. | 1963 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, McDade was assigned 4,858 district-court cases (1982–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 181 days across 4,857 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 127 of McDade’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 99 were affirmed, 20 reversed or vacated, and 8 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, McDade authored 99 published opinions for the court (1992–2010). Most cited: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc. (42 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc. | 990 F. Supp. 1059 | 42 |
| 1996 | Hudson v. Helman | 948 F. Supp. 810 | 35 |
| 1993 | O'Bryant v. United States | 839 F. Supp. 1321 | 27 |
| 1997 | United States v. Hall | 974 F. Supp. 1198 | 25 |
| 1993 | In Re Boldman | 157 B.R. 412 | 17 |
| 1996 | In Re Ontiveros | 198 B.R. 284 | 16 |
| 2006 | Creditors' Committee of Jumer's, Castle Lodge, Inc. v. Jumer (In Re Jumer's Castle Lodge, Inc.) | 338 B.R. 344 | 14 |
| 1995 | Agribank v. Green | 188 B.R. 982 | 14 |
| 1992 | Rowland v. Magna Millikin Bank of Decatur, N.A. | 812 F. Supp. 875 | 13 |
| 2008 | Doe v. Brimfield Grade School | 552 F. Supp. 2d 816 | 11 |
| 1994 | Resolution Trust Corp. v. S & K CHEVROLET | 868 F. Supp. 1047 | 11 |
| 2008 | Salta Group, Inc. v. McKinney | 380 B.R. 515 | 10 |
| 1996 | Waldschmidt v. Amoco Oil Co. | 924 F. Supp. 88 | 9 |
| 2010 | Shefts v. Petrakis | 758 F. Supp. 2d 620 | 8 |
| 2009 | Cummins, Inc. v. Tas Distributing Company, Inc. | 676 F. Supp. 2d 701 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 99 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 Joe Billy McDade?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Joe Billy McDade to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in 1991.
- Was Joe Billy McDade appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Joe Billy McDade was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Joe Billy McDade's confirmation vote?
- Joe Billy McDade was confirmed by voice vote on November 21, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Joe Billy McDade on?
- Joe Billy McDade is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
34 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).