Who appointed Joseph H. McKinley Jr.?

President William J. Clinton appointed Joseph H. McKinley Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1995.

Was Joseph H. McKinley Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Joseph H. McKinley Jr. was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Joseph H. McKinley Jr.'s confirmation vote?

Joseph H. McKinley Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Western District of Kentucky / Appointed 1995 / Senior status since 2019

Joseph H. McKinley Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, Joseph H. McKinley Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from University of Louisville School of Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) in 1979. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1954 · age 72
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1995
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Kentucky 1976 · University of Louisville Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) 1979
Succeeded: Ronald Edward Meredith
Succeeded by: Justin Reed Walker

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1995	Western District of Kentucky succeeded Ronald Edward Meredith	Clinton (D)	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 Kentucky	B.S.	1976
University of Louisville School of Law (now Louis D. Brandeis School of Law)	J.D.	1979

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, McKinley was assigned 7,114 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 226 days across 6,661 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas17%

Other civil matters16%

Personal-injury torts13%

Contract10%

Real property10%

Civil rights9%

Other25%

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 375 of McKinley’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 301 were affirmed, 39 reversed or vacated, and 35 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, McKinley authored 49 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: Sudamax Industria E Comercio De Cigarros, Ltda v. Buttes & Ashes, Inc. (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
2007	Sudamax Industria E Comercio De Cigarros, Ltda v. Buttes & Ashes, Inc.	516 F. Supp. 2d 841	30
1998	Pacificorp Kentucky Energy Corp. v. Big Rivers Electric Corp. (In Re Big Rivers Electric Corp.)	233 B.R. 739	23
1998	Skaggs v. Parker	27 F. Supp. 2d 952	17
2011	Madison Capital Co., LLC v. S & S SALVAGE, LLC	765 F. Supp. 2d 923	16
1999	Gooch v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.	40 F. Supp. 2d 863	15
2010	Commonwealth Brands, Inc. v. United States	678 F. Supp. 2d 512	14
2009	Walker v. Davis	643 F. Supp. 2d 921	11
2011	Thornton v. Western & Southern Financial Group Beneflex Plan	797 F. Supp. 2d 796	9
2001	Brown v. State Auto	189 F. Supp. 2d 665	8
1998	Community Health Partners, Inc. v. Kentucky Ex Rel. Nichols	14 F. Supp. 2d 991	8
1997	Environmental Protection Agency Ex Rel. United States v. TMG Enterprises, Inc.	979 F. Supp. 1110	8
2011	Condiff v. Hart County School District	770 F. Supp. 2d 876	7
2008	United States v. Stevens	605 F. Supp. 2d 863	7
2007	Eckstein v. Cincinnati Insurance	469 F. Supp. 2d 455	7
2003	Sierra Club, Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc.	299 F. Supp. 2d 693	7

Showing the 15 most-cited of 49 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 Joseph H. McKinley Jr.?: President William J. Clinton appointed Joseph H. McKinley Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1995.
Was Joseph H. McKinley Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Joseph H. McKinley Jr. was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Joseph H. McKinley Jr.'s confirmation vote?: Joseph H. McKinley Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Joseph H. McKinley Jr. on?: Joseph H. McKinley Jr. is 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.

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 Western District of Kentucky. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).