District of New Mexico / Appointed 1986 / Served to 2014

John Edwards Conway

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, John Edwards Conway was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He earned a law degree from Washburn University School of Law in 1963. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1934–2014
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan, 1986
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
U.S. Naval Academy 1956 · Washburn Law 1963

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1986District of New MexicoReagan (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Conway was assigned 2,693 district-court cases (1981–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 250 days across 2,693 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas23%
Civil rights22%
Contract13%
Personal-injury torts12%
Social Security7%
Other federal statutes6%
Other16%

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 26 of Conway’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 21 were affirmed, 4 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, Conway authored 37 published opinions for the court (1986–2010). Most cited: Shorty v. Capital One Bank (21 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
2000Shorty v. Capital One Bank90 F. Supp. 2d 133021
1997Continental Casualty Co. v. Westerfield961 F. Supp. 150218
1993Russey v. Rankin837 F. Supp. 110315
1987Beh v. Ostergard657 F. Supp. 17313
1986Pueblo De Cochiti v. United States647 F. Supp. 53813
1993Resolution Trust Corp. v. Ocotillo West Joint Venture840 F. Supp. 146312
1992United States v. United Nuclear Corp.814 F. Supp. 155210
1992Sollars v. City of Albuquerque794 F. Supp. 3609
1992American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees v. Corrections Department of New Mexico783 F. Supp. 13209
2009Otero v. New Mexico Corrections Department640 F. Supp. 2d 13468
2000United States v. Wen Ho Lee90 F. Supp. 2d 13248
2000Kaspar v. City of Hobbs90 F. Supp. 2d 13138
1987Snead v. City of Albuquerque663 F. Supp. 10847
1999United States v. Velarde40 F. Supp. 2d 13146
1991Sanchez v. Sanchez777 F. Supp. 9066

Showing the 15 most-cited of 37 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 John Edwards Conway?
President Ronald Reagan appointed John Edwards Conway to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico in 1986.
Was John Edwards Conway appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
John Edwards Conway was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was John Edwards Conway's confirmation vote?
John Edwards Conway was confirmed by voice vote on June 13, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was John Edwards Conway on?
John Edwards Conway was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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