John William Potter
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, John William Potter was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1946. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1918–2013
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1982
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Toledo (now University of Toledo) 1940 · University of Michigan Law School 1946
- Succeeded
- William Kernahan Thomas
- Succeeded by
- Kathleen McDonald O'Malley
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Northern District of Ohio succeeded William Kernahan Thomas | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Potter was assigned 2,437 district-court cases (1979–2004). Median time from filing to termination: 197 days across 2,437 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.
In our data, Potter authored 55 published opinions for the court (1982–2004). Most cited: American Nursing Care of Toledo, Inc. v. Leisure (25 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | American Nursing Care of Toledo, Inc. v. Leisure | 609 F. Supp. 419 | 25 |
| 1994 | Howe v. Hull | 873 F. Supp. 72 | 23 |
| 2001 | United States v. Hernandez | 137 F. Supp. 2d 919 | 21 |
| 1997 | Glauser-Nagy v. Medical Mutual of Ohio | 987 F. Supp. 1002 | 18 |
| 1994 | Howe v. Hull | 874 F. Supp. 779 | 17 |
| 1988 | Williams v. Allied Automotive, Autolite Division | 704 F. Supp. 782 | 14 |
| 1994 | Wedding v. University of Toledo | 862 F. Supp. 201 | 13 |
| 1993 | Sanchez v. Overmyer | 845 F. Supp. 1178 | 13 |
| 1986 | Chrysler Workers Ass'n v. Chrysler Corp. | 663 F. Supp. 1134 | 13 |
| 1994 | United States v. Rice | 182 B.R. 759 | 12 |
| 1994 | Cione v. Gorr | 843 F. Supp. 1199 | 12 |
| 1999 | United States v. Rodriguez | 50 F. Supp. 2d 717 | 10 |
| 1991 | Park Place Home Brokers v. PK Mobile Home Park | 773 F. Supp. 46 | 10 |
| 1988 | Arthur S. Langenderfer, Inc. v. S.E. Johnson Co. | 684 F. Supp. 953 | 10 |
| 1995 | Richards v. Secretary of Health and Human Services | 884 F. Supp. 256 | 9 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 55 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 Potter?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed John William Potter to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1982.
- Was John William Potter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John William Potter was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John William Potter's confirmation vote?
- John William Potter was confirmed by voice vote on June 18, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John William Potter on?
- John William Potter was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).