Kathryn Hoefer Vratil
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Kathryn Hoefer Vratil is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. She earned a law degree from University of Kansas School of Law in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Kansas 1971 · University of Kansas Law 1975
- Succeeded
- Earl Eugene O'Connor
- Succeeded by
- Holly Lou Teeter
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | District of Kansas succeeded Earl Eugene O'Connor | 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
| University of Kansas | B.A. | 1971 |
| University of Kansas School of Law | J.D. | 1975 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Vratil was assigned 4,927 district-court cases (1988–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 266 days across 4,769 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 137 of Vratil’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 114 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 10 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, Vratil authored 406 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Fisher v. Lynch (139 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Fisher v. Lynch | 531 F. Supp. 2d 1253 | 139 |
| 2003 | Sawyer v. Southwest Airlines Co. | 243 F. Supp. 2d 1257 | 131 |
| 1995 | Garcia-Paz v. Swift Textiles, Inc. | 873 F. Supp. 547 | 104 |
| 2001 | Xiangyuan (Sue) Zhu v. Countrywide Realty, Co. | 160 F. Supp. 2d 1210 | 102 |
| 2010 | In Re Motor Fuel Temperature Sales Practices Litigation | 707 F. Supp. 2d 1145 | 61 |
| 2008 | Mendelsohn v. Sprint/United Management Co. | 587 F. Supp. 2d 1201 | 45 |
| 2004 | Taylor v. Sebelius | 350 F. Supp. 2d 888 | 38 |
| 2000 | Klocek v. Gateway, Inc. | 104 F. Supp. 2d 1332 | 38 |
| 1999 | Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Inc. v. Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft | 54 F. Supp. 2d 1042 | 30 |
| 2006 | Mondaine v. American Drug Stores, Inc. | 408 F. Supp. 2d 1169 | 25 |
| 2008 | In Re Motor Fuel Temperature Sales Practices Litigation | 534 F. Supp. 2d 1214 | 24 |
| 2001 | Metzger v. City of Leawood | 144 F. Supp. 2d 1225 | 23 |
| 2001 | Xiangyuan (Sue) Zhu v. Countrywide Realty, Co. | 165 F. Supp. 2d 1181 | 22 |
| 1997 | Harrell v. Spangler, Inc. | 957 F. Supp. 1215 | 22 |
| 2004 | Jones v. Wildgen | 349 F. Supp. 2d 1358 | 20 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 406 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 Kathryn Hoefer Vratil?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Kathryn Hoefer Vratil to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in 1992.
- Was Kathryn Hoefer Vratil appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Kathryn Hoefer Vratil 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 Kathryn Hoefer Vratil's confirmation vote?
- Kathryn Hoefer Vratil was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Kathryn Hoefer Vratil on?
- Kathryn Hoefer Vratil is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Vandeusen Photography (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.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).