Kent J. Dawson
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Kent J. Dawson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. He earned a law degree from University of Utah College of Law (now S.J. Quinney College of Law) in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1944 · age 82
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 2000
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Weber State College 1969 · University of Utah College of Law (now S.J. Quinney College of Law) 1971
- Succeeded by
- Andrew Patrick Gordon
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | District of Nevada | 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
| Weber State College | B.S. | 1969 |
| University of Utah College of Law (now S.J. Quinney College of Law) | J.D. | 1971 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Dawson was assigned 4,632 district-court cases (1986–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 252 days across 4,565 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 322 of Dawson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 240 were affirmed, 43 reversed or vacated, and 39 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, Dawson authored 10 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Custom Teleconnect, Inc. v. International Tele-Services, Inc. (10 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Custom Teleconnect, Inc. v. International Tele-Services, Inc. | 254 F. Supp. 2d 1173 | 10 |
| 2009 | United States v. Brown | 636 F. Supp. 2d 1116 | 8 |
| 2011 | Goldberg v. Pagaduan (In Re Pagaduan) | 447 B.R. 614 | 2 |
| 2010 | United States v. Perelman | 737 F. Supp. 2d 1221 | 2 |
| 2008 | Garcia v. Dawahare | 608 F. Supp. 2d 1228 | 2 |
| 2004 | Playboy Enterprises International, Inc. v. Muller | 314 F. Supp. 2d 1037 | 2 |
| 2003 | Schaefer v. MGM Mirage, Inc. | 306 F. Supp. 2d 971 | 1 |
| 2011 | Wilderness Watch, Inc. v. Bureau of Land Management | 799 F. Supp. 2d 1172 | 0 |
| 2011 | Estate of Edward Idzior v. Medsolutions, Inc. | 788 F. Supp. 2d 1203 | 0 |
| 2003 | Ray v. United States | 291 F. Supp. 2d 1179 | 0 |
Showing the 10 most-cited of 10 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 Kent J. Dawson?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Kent J. Dawson to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2000.
- Was Kent J. Dawson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Kent J. Dawson was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Kent J. Dawson's confirmation vote?
- Kent J. Dawson was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Kent J. Dawson on?
- Kent J. Dawson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (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.
26 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).