Who appointed Julia Smith Gibbons?

President George W. Bush appointed Julia Smith Gibbons to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2002.

Was Julia Smith Gibbons appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Julia Smith Gibbons was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Julia Smith Gibbons's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Julia Smith Gibbons 95–0 on July 29, 2002.

Sixth Circuit / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2024

Julia Smith Gibbons

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

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by the Senate 95–0, Julia Smith Gibbons is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. She previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1950 · age 76
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: 95–0
Education: Vanderbilt 1972 · University of Virginia Law 1975
Succeeded: Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr.
Succeeded by: Kevin Gafford Ritz

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1983	Western District of Tennessee succeeded Harry Walker Wellford	Reagan (R)	Voice vote
2002	Sixth Circuit succeeded Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr.	G.W. Bush (R)	95–0

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

Nomination Confirmed 95–0 on July 29, 2002 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 194. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 95

49 D, 45 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 5

1 D, 4 R

Education

Vanderbilt University	B.A.	1972
University of Virginia School of Law	J.D.	1975

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Gibbons was assigned 3,174 district-court cases (1983–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 213 days across 3,171 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas27%

Civil rights23%

Contract17%

Personal-injury torts12%

Other federal statutes5%

Labor & ERISA3%

Other13%

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, Gibbons authored 42 published opinions for the court (1985–2003). Most cited: Gilland v. Owens (42 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	Gilland v. Owens	718 F. Supp. 665	42
1997	Ergon, Inc. v. Amoco Oil Co.	966 F. Supp. 577	19
2001	In Re SCB Computer Technology, Inc., Securities Litigation	149 F. Supp. 2d 334	18
2002	Wooley v. Madison County, Tennessee	209 F. Supp. 2d 836	14
1994	Young v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance	868 F. Supp. 937	12
2002	Carroll v. United States	217 F. Supp. 2d 852	11
1991	Lee v. Richardson-Merrell, Inc.	772 F. Supp. 1027	10
1987	Boyd v. James S. Hayes Living Health Care Agency, Inc.	671 F. Supp. 1155	10
1998	Jones v. Intuition, Inc.	12 F. Supp. 2d 775	8
1986	Memphis Housing Authority v. Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc.	639 F. Supp. 108	8
1985	Willis v. Barksdale	625 F. Supp. 411	8
1985	Crockwell v. Blackmon-Mooring Steamatic, Inc.	627 F. Supp. 800	8
1994	Ferrell v. Southern Financial	179 B.R. 530	7
1989	Savers Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Home Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n	721 F. Supp. 940	6
1986	Gibson v. United States	643 F. Supp. 181	6

Showing the 15 most-cited of 42 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 Julia Smith Gibbons?: President George W. Bush appointed Julia Smith Gibbons to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2002.
Was Julia Smith Gibbons appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Julia Smith Gibbons was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Julia Smith Gibbons's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Julia Smith Gibbons 95–0 on July 29, 2002.
Which court is Julia Smith Gibbons on?: Julia Smith Gibbons is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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