Kathleen Mary Williams
Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 and confirmed by voice vote, Kathleen Mary Williams is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She earned a law degree from University of Miami School of Law in 1982. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1956 · age 70
- Appointed by
- Barack Obama, 2011
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Duke 1978 · University of Miami Law 1982
- Succeeded
- Daniel T. K. Hurley
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Southern District of Florida succeeded Daniel T. K. Hurley | Obama (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
| Duke University | B.A. | 1978 |
| University of Miami School of Law | J.D. | 1982 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Williams was assigned 7,423 district-court cases (1990–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 152 days across 6,776 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 320 of Williams’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 266 were affirmed, 26 reversed or vacated, and 28 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, Williams authored 1 published opinion for the court (2011). Most cited: Zarrella v. Pacific Life Insurance (1 citation).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Zarrella v. Pacific Life Insurance | 820 F. Supp. 2d 1371 | 1 |
Showing the 1 most-cited of 1 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 Kathleen Mary Williams?
- President Barack Obama appointed Kathleen Mary Williams to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 2011.
- Was Kathleen Mary Williams appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Kathleen Mary Williams was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Kathleen Mary Williams's confirmation vote?
- Kathleen Mary Williams was confirmed by voice vote on August 2, 2011. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Kathleen Mary Williams on?
- Kathleen Mary Williams is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (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.
15 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).