Who appointed John Phil Gilbert?

President George H.W. Bush appointed John Phil Gilbert to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in 1992.

Was John Phil Gilbert appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

John Phil Gilbert 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 John Phil Gilbert's confirmation vote?

John Phil Gilbert was confirmed by voice vote on September 23, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of Illinois / Appointed 1992 / Senior status since 2014

John Phil Gilbert

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, John Phil Gilbert is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1949 · age 77
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1992
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Illinois 1971 · Loyola Chicago Law 1974
Succeeded: James L. Foreman
Succeeded by: Staci Michelle Yandle

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1992	Southern District of Illinois succeeded James L. Foreman	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

University of Illinois	B.S.	1971
Loyola University Chicago School of Law	J.D.	1974

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Gilbert was assigned 5,900 district-court cases (1983–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 222 days across 5,584 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas27%

Other civil matters18%

Personal-injury torts15%

Civil rights8%

Contract7%

Real property6%

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 164 of Gilbert’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 136 were affirmed, 17 reversed or vacated, and 11 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, Gilbert authored 54 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Doss v. Gilkey (69 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
2009	Doss v. Gilkey	649 F. Supp. 2d 905	69
2011	Villareal v. El Chile, Inc.	776 F. Supp. 2d 778	41
1994	GJ Leasing Co., Inc. v. Union Elec. Co.	854 F. Supp. 539	38
2006	UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Stewart	461 F. Supp. 2d 837	27
2001	Caraker v. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp.	172 F. Supp. 2d 1018	27
2001	Williams v. Eastside Lumberyard and Supply Co.	190 F. Supp. 2d 1104	19
1999	Heartwood, Inc. v. United States Forest Service	73 F. Supp. 2d 962	17
2001	Caraker v. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp.	188 F. Supp. 2d 1026	16
2002	United States Ex. Rel. Humphrey v. Franklin-Williamson Human Services, Inc.	189 F. Supp. 2d 862	15
2008	Cima v. Wellpoint Health Networks, Inc.	556 F. Supp. 2d 901	11
2007	Giles v. Wyeth, Inc.	500 F. Supp. 2d 1048	11
2001	Hernandez v. Gilkey	242 F. Supp. 2d 549	11
1993	GJ Leasing Co., Inc. v. Union Elec. Co.	825 F. Supp. 1363	11
2007	Sieron v. Hanover Fire & Casualty Insurance	485 F. Supp. 2d 954	10
2009	Anderson v. Hackett	646 F. Supp. 2d 1041	9

Showing the 15 most-cited of 54 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 Phil Gilbert?: President George H.W. Bush appointed John Phil Gilbert to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in 1992.
Was John Phil Gilbert appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John Phil Gilbert 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 John Phil Gilbert's confirmation vote?: John Phil Gilbert was confirmed by voice vote on September 23, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is John Phil Gilbert on?: John Phil Gilbert is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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