John Gilpin Heyburn II
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, John Gilpin Heyburn II was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from University of Kentucky College of Law in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1948–2015
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard College 1970 · University of Kentucky College of Law 1976
- Succeeded
- Thomas Austin Ballantine Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Rebecca Grady Jennings
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Western District of Kentucky succeeded Thomas Austin Ballantine Jr. | 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
| Harvard College | A.B. | 1970 |
| University of Kentucky College of Law | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Heyburn was assigned 5,206 district-court cases (1981–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 236 days across 5,204 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 219 of Heyburn’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 187 were affirmed, 21 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, Heyburn authored 234 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Stafford v. Cross Country Bank (75 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Stafford v. Cross Country Bank | 262 F. Supp. 2d 776 | 75 |
| 2001 | Auto Channel, Inc. v. Speed Vision Network, LLC | 144 F. Supp. 2d 784 | 51 |
| 1995 | CMI, Inc. v. Intoximeters, Inc. | 918 F. Supp. 1068 | 50 |
| 1998 | Kentucky Laborers District Council Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Hill & Knowlton, Inc. | 24 F. Supp. 2d 755 | 46 |
| 1994 | Hazel v. General Motors Corp. | 863 F. Supp. 435 | 44 |
| 2002 | Egan v. Premier Scales & Systems | 237 F. Supp. 2d 774 | 42 |
| 1994 | McCraw v. Lyons | 863 F. Supp. 430 | 41 |
| 2005 | Davis v. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. | 399 F. Supp. 2d 785 | 38 |
| 2003 | Smith v. Bob Smith Chevrolet, Inc. | 275 F. Supp. 2d 808 | 38 |
| 2009 | Ventas, Inc. v. Health Care Property Investors, Inc. | 635 F. Supp. 2d 612 | 33 |
| 2010 | Maker's Mark Distillery, Inc. v. Diageo North America, Inc. | 703 F. Supp. 2d 671 | 27 |
| 2003 | Monumental Life Insurance v. Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. | 242 F. Supp. 2d 438 | 26 |
| 1998 | Eubanks v. Stengel | 28 F. Supp. 2d 1024 | 25 |
| 2003 | Johnson v. Galen Health Institutes, Inc. | 267 F. Supp. 2d 679 | 23 |
| 2001 | Grego v. Meijer, Inc. | 187 F. Supp. 2d 689 | 20 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 234 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 Gilpin Heyburn II?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed John Gilpin Heyburn II to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1992.
- Was John Gilpin Heyburn II appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John Gilpin Heyburn II 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 Gilpin Heyburn II's confirmation vote?
- John Gilpin Heyburn II was confirmed by voice vote on August 12, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John Gilpin Heyburn II on?
- John Gilpin Heyburn II was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- 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.
22 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).