Who appointed John Bailey Jones?

President Ronald Reagan appointed John Bailey Jones to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in 1981.

Was John Bailey Jones appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

John Bailey Jones was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was John Bailey Jones's confirmation vote?

John Bailey Jones was confirmed by voice vote on November 18, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of South Dakota / Appointed 1981 / Served to 2023

John Bailey Jones

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, John Bailey Jones was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. He earned a law degree from University of South Dakota School of Law (now Knudson School of Law) in 1953. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1927–2023
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1981
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of South Dakota 1951 · University of South Dakota Law (now Knudson School of Law) 1953
Succeeded: Fred Joseph Nichol
Succeeded by: Charles B. Kornmann

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1981	District of South Dakota succeeded Fred Joseph Nichol	Reagan (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 South Dakota	B.S.	1951
University of South Dakota School of Law (now Knudson School of Law)	LL.B.	1953

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Jones was assigned 1,407 district-court cases (1984–2008). Median time from filing to termination: 203 days across 1,407 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas43%

Civil rights17%

Contract11%

Personal-injury torts11%

Real property5%

Bankruptcy4%

Other9%

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.

In our data, Jones authored 41 published opinions for the court (1982–1997). Most cited: Yarnall v. Erickson Partnership (In Re Erickson Partnership) (30 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
1988	Yarnall v. Erickson Partnership (In Re Erickson Partnership)	83 B.R. 725	30
1983	Loving Saviour Church v. United States	556 F. Supp. 688	26
1989	Davis v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance	727 F. Supp. 549	24
1992	Ross v. Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe	809 F. Supp. 738	17
1991	United States Trustee v. Wernerstruck, Inc. (In Re Wernerstruck, Inc.)	130 B.R. 86	17
1995	Maynard v. Greater Hoyt School District No. 61-4	876 F. Supp. 1104	13
1987	Mendel v. Production Credit Ass'n of the Midlands	656 F. Supp. 1212	12
1995	Thompson v. Ellenbecker	935 F. Supp. 1037	11
1993	United States Trustee v. Farm Credit Bank of Omaha (In Re Peterson)	152 B.R. 612	11
1987	United States v. Erickson Partnership (In Re Erickson Partnership)	74 B.R. 670	11
1993	Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. South Dakota	830 F. Supp. 523	9
1987	United States v. Buckley (In Re Buckley)	73 B.R. 746	8
1990	McMaster v. Amoco Foam Products Co.	735 F. Supp. 941	7
1987	Schultz v. Mitchell-Huron Production Credit Ass'n (In Re Schultz)	69 B.R. 629	7
1985	United States v. Mid-States Exchange	620 F. Supp. 358	7

Showing the 15 most-cited of 41 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 Bailey Jones?: President Ronald Reagan appointed John Bailey Jones to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in 1981.
Was John Bailey Jones appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John Bailey Jones was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was John Bailey Jones's confirmation vote?: John Bailey Jones was confirmed by voice vote on November 18, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was John Bailey Jones on?: John Bailey Jones was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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