John William Ditter Jr.
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, John William Ditter Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) in 1948. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1921–2019
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1970
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Ursinus College 1943 · University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) 1948
- Succeeded by
- Robert S. Gawthrop III
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Eastern District of Pennsylvania | Nixon (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
| Ursinus College | B.A. | 1943 |
| University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) | LL.B. | 1948 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Ditter was assigned 1,756 district-court cases (1978–2018). Median time from filing to termination: 252 days across 1,756 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 57 of Ditter’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 52 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, Ditter authored 354 published opinions for the court (1971–2008). Most cited: City of Philadelphia v. Stepan Chemical Co. (116 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | City of Philadelphia v. Stepan Chemical Co. | 544 F. Supp. 1135 | 116 |
| 1976 | Mitchell v. Chester County Farms Prison | 426 F. Supp. 271 | 98 |
| 1990 | Mazur v. Merck & Co., Inc. | 742 F. Supp. 239 | 53 |
| 1982 | Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Lototsky | 549 F. Supp. 996 | 53 |
| 1980 | Ratcliffe v. Insurance Co. of North America | 482 F. Supp. 759 | 38 |
| 1976 | United States v. Kates | 419 F. Supp. 846 | 37 |
| 1976 | Newman v. Forward Lands, Inc. | 418 F. Supp. 134 | 35 |
| 1988 | Gruber v. Price Waterhouse | 697 F. Supp. 859 | 33 |
| 1976 | Pitrone v. Mercadante | 420 F. Supp. 1384 | 33 |
| 1978 | Bryson v. United States | 463 F. Supp. 908 | 32 |
| 1976 | Chips 'N Twigs, Inc. v. Chip-Chip, Ltd. | 414 F. Supp. 1003 | 31 |
| 1991 | Bergquist Co. v. Sunroc Corp. | 777 F. Supp. 1236 | 30 |
| 1977 | Robbins Flooring, Inc. v. Federal Floors, Inc. | 445 F. Supp. 4 | 30 |
| 1994 | Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, Inc. v. American Bar Ass'n | 872 F. Supp. 1346 | 29 |
| 1975 | Blender v. Sibley | 396 F. Supp. 300 | 29 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 354 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 William Ditter Jr.?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed John William Ditter Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1970.
- Was John William Ditter Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John William Ditter Jr. was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John William Ditter Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- John William Ditter Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John William Ditter Jr. on?
- John William Ditter Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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.
48 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).