Who appointed John Mercer Walker Jr.?

President George H.W. Bush appointed John Mercer Walker Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1989.

Was John Mercer Walker Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

John Mercer Walker Jr. 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 Mercer Walker Jr.'s confirmation vote?

John Mercer Walker Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on November 22, 1989. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Second Circuit / Appointed 1989 / Senior status since 2006

John Mercer Walker Jr.

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 and confirmed by voice vote, John Mercer Walker Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1966. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1940 · age 86
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1989
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Yale 1962 · University of Michigan Law School 1966
Succeeded: Irving Robert Kaufman
Succeeded by: Debra Ann Livingston

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1985	Southern District of New York succeeded Morris Edward Lasker	Reagan (R)	Voice vote
1989	Second Circuit succeeded Irving Robert Kaufman	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

Yale University	B.A.	1962
University of Michigan Law School	J.D.	1966

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Walker was assigned 21 district-court cases (1984–1989). Median time from filing to termination: 490 days across 21 closed cases.

Contract24%

Prisoner & habeas24%

Antitrust, securities & banking19%

Labor & ERISA10%

Social Security10%

Intellectual property5%

Other10%

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, Walker authored 104 published opinions for the court (1985–2009). Most cited: McNeill v. New York City Housing Authority (68 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1989	McNeill v. New York City Housing Authority	719 F. Supp. 233	68
1986	Von Bulow by Auersperg v. Von Bulow	634 F. Supp. 1284	60
1989	Metropolitan Life Insurance v. RJR Nabisco, Inc.	716 F. Supp. 1504	58
1987	Von Bulow Ex Rel. Auersperg v. Von Bulow	657 F. Supp. 1134	58
2009	United States v. Main	579 F.3d 200	53
1986	Galerie Des Monnaies of Geneva, Ltd. v. Deutsche Bank, A.G. (In Re Galerie Des Monnaies of Geneva, Ltd.)	62 B.R. 224	52
1986	McDonald's Corp. v. McBagel's, Inc.	649 F. Supp. 1268	51
1989	Polycast Technology Corp. v. Uniroyal, Inc.	728 F. Supp. 926	47
1987	Samuel M. Feinberg Testamentary Trust v. Carter	652 F. Supp. 1066	41
1985	Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States v. Alexander Grant & Co.	627 F. Supp. 1023	40
1991	United States v. Helmsley	760 F. Supp. 338	33
1989	Bender v. Tobman (In Re Tobman)	107 B.R. 20	31
1989	Sharif Ex Rel. Salahuddin v. New York State Education Department	709 F. Supp. 345	31
1988	Boley v. Pineloch Associates, Ltd.	700 F. Supp. 673	29
1986	Apex Oil Co. v. DiMauro	641 F. Supp. 1246	28

Showing the 15 most-cited of 104 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 Mercer Walker Jr.?: President George H.W. Bush appointed John Mercer Walker Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1989.
Was John Mercer Walker Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John Mercer Walker Jr. 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 Mercer Walker Jr.'s confirmation vote?: John Mercer Walker Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on November 22, 1989. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is John Mercer Walker Jr. on?: John Mercer Walker Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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.

36 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).