Who appointed Keith P. Ellison?

President William J. Clinton appointed Keith P. Ellison to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1999.

Was Keith P. Ellison appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Keith P. Ellison was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Keith P. Ellison's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Keith P. Ellison 94–4 on June 30, 1999.

Southern District of Texas / Appointed 1999 / Active

Keith P. Ellison

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1999 and confirmed by the Senate 94–4, Keith P. Ellison is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1950 · age 76
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1999
Confirmed: 94–4
Education: Harvard 1972 · Yale Law School 1976
Succeeded: Norman William Black

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1999	Southern District of Texas succeeded Norman William Black	Clinton (D)	94–4

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 94–4 on June 30, 1999 · 106th Congress, Roll Call 190. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 94

45 D, 49 R

Voted against · 4

4 R

Did not vote · 2

2 R

Connie Mack(R-FL)
George Voinovich(R-OH)

Education

Harvard University	B.A.	1972
University of Oxford	B.A.	1974
Yale Law School	J.D.	1976

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Ellison was assigned 6,794 district-court cases (1996–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 213 days across 5,674 closed cases.

Other civil matters31%

Prisoner & habeas13%

Contract12%

Civil rights8%

Labor & ERISA8%

Personal-injury torts7%

Other22%

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 526 of Ellison’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 418 were affirmed, 49 reversed or vacated, and 59 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, Ellison authored 89 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: Thomas v. City of Galveston, Texas (74 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
2011	Thomas v. City of Galveston, Texas	800 F. Supp. 2d 826	74
2008	Falcon v. Starbucks Corp.	580 F. Supp. 2d 528	58
2010	M-I LLC v. Stelly	733 F. Supp. 2d 759	40
2009	TransPerfect Translations, Inc. v. Leslie	594 F. Supp. 2d 742	26
2004	El Pollo Loco, S.A. De C v. v. El Pollo Loco, Inc.	344 F. Supp. 2d 986	26
2011	McPeters v. Edwards	806 F. Supp. 2d 978	23
2011	Hobart v. City of Stafford	784 F. Supp. 2d 732	20
2010	Lewkut v. Stryker Corp.	724 F. Supp. 2d 648	20
2010	Quantlab Technologies Ltd.(BVI) v. Godlevsky	719 F. Supp. 2d 766	20
2011	Wellogix, Inc. v. Accenture, LLP	788 F. Supp. 2d 523	19
2011	North Cypress Medical Center Operating Co. v. Cigna Healthcare	782 F. Supp. 2d 294	19
2011	Westerngeco L.L.C. v. Ion Geophysical Corp.	776 F. Supp. 2d 342	18
2009	D.A. v. Houston Independent School District	716 F. Supp. 2d 603	12
2008	Jones v. Halliburton Co.	625 F. Supp. 2d 339	12
1999	In Re FIBSA Forwarding, Inc.	244 B.R. 94	12

Showing the 15 most-cited of 89 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 Keith P. Ellison?: President William J. Clinton appointed Keith P. Ellison to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1999.
Was Keith P. Ellison appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Keith P. Ellison was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Keith P. Ellison's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Keith P. Ellison 94–4 on June 30, 1999.
Which court is Keith P. Ellison on?: Keith P. Ellison is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

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.

27 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).