John C. Shabaz
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, John C. Shabaz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. He earned a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–2012
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1981
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Marquette Law School 1957
- Succeeded
- James Edward Doyle
- Succeeded by
- James Donald Peterson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Western District of Wisconsin succeeded James Edward Doyle | 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
| Marquette University Law School | LL.B. | 1957 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Shabaz was assigned 10,361 district-court cases (1971–2009). Median time from filing to termination: 71 days across 8,646 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 120 of Shabaz’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 98 were affirmed, 19 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Shabaz authored 178 published opinions for the court (1982–2008). Most cited: United States v. Village of Marshall, Wis. (31 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | United States v. Village of Marshall, Wis. | 787 F. Supp. 872 | 31 |
| 2000 | Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. City of Marshfield | 160 F. Supp. 2d 1009 | 27 |
| 2006 | Dupaco Community Credit Union v. Robert L. (In Re Zehrung) | 351 B.R. 675 | 25 |
| 1988 | In Re Crowley | 85 B.R. 76 | 23 |
| 1998 | Cali v. Danek Medical, Inc. | 24 F. Supp. 2d 941 | 19 |
| 1990 | Beach v. First Union National Bank of North Carolina (In Re Carley Capital Group) | 119 B.R. 646 | 19 |
| 1986 | Nigh v. Dow Chemical Co. | 634 F. Supp. 1513 | 19 |
| 1995 | US Ex Rel. Fallon v. Accudyne Corp. | 880 F. Supp. 636 | 16 |
| 1993 | Brown v. General Motors Corp. | 152 B.R. 935 | 16 |
| 1990 | Mertes v. Devitt | 734 F. Supp. 872 | 16 |
| 1984 | Kloes v. United States | 578 F. Supp. 270 | 16 |
| 1982 | Huebschen v. Department of Health & Social Services | 547 F. Supp. 1168 | 16 |
| 1998 | Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin v. Doyle | 9 F. Supp. 2d 1033 | 15 |
| 1988 | In Re Herbst | 95 B.R. 98 | 15 |
| 1983 | Ohio Casualty Co. v. Jackson County Bank | 562 F. Supp. 1165 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 178 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 C. Shabaz?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed John C. Shabaz to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in 1981.
- Was John C. Shabaz appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John C. Shabaz was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John C. Shabaz's confirmation vote?
- John C. Shabaz was confirmed by voice vote on December 9, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John C. Shabaz on?
- John C. Shabaz was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
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.
30 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).