Who appointed Kim R. Gibson?

President George W. Bush appointed Kim R. Gibson to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2003.

Was Kim R. Gibson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Kim R. Gibson was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Kim R. Gibson's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Kim R. Gibson 94–0 on September 23, 2003.

Western District of Pennsylvania / Appointed 2003 / Served to 2025

Kim R. Gibson

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by the Senate 94–0, Kim R. Gibson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1948–2025
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2003
Confirmed: 94–0
Education: U.S. Military Academy 1970 · Dickinson Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) 1975
Succeeded: David Brooks Smith
Succeeded by: J. Nicholas Ranjan

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2003	Western District of Pennsylvania succeeded David Brooks Smith	G.W. Bush (R)	94–0

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

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 94–0 on September 23, 2003 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 357. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 94

42 D, 51 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 6

6 D

Education

U.S. Military Academy	B.S.	1970
Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law)	J.D.	1975

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Gibson was assigned 3,579 district-court cases (1995–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 176 days across 3,558 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas44%

Civil rights15%

Personal-injury torts7%

Other civil matters7%

Contract7%

Real property5%

Other16%

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 640 of Gibson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 557 were affirmed, 64 reversed or vacated, and 19 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, Gibson authored 77 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Dawn L. v. Greater Johnstown School District (46 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	Dawn L. v. Greater Johnstown School District	586 F. Supp. 2d 332	46
2008	Hayduk v. City of Johnstown	580 F. Supp. 2d 429	23
2007	Taylor v. Altoona Area School District	513 F. Supp. 2d 540	23
2010	Howard v. Blalock Electric Service, Inc.	742 F. Supp. 2d 681	22
2007	Goldhaber v. Higgins	576 F. Supp. 2d 694	19
2007	Butterbaugh v. Chertoff	479 F. Supp. 2d 485	17
2006	Untracht v. Fikri	454 F. Supp. 2d 289	17
2011	Ickes v. Borough of Bedford	807 F. Supp. 2d 306	15
2008	Thompson v. Wagner	631 F. Supp. 2d 664	12
2004	Velazquez v. UPMC Bedford Memorial Hospital	328 F. Supp. 2d 549	12
2005	Highland Tank & Mfg. Co. v. PS International, Inc.	393 F. Supp. 2d 348	11
2010	Taylor v. Altoona Area School District	737 F. Supp. 2d 474	10
2009	Thomas v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Corr.	615 F. Supp. 2d 411	9
2004	Johnson v. Clearfield Area School District	319 F. Supp. 2d 583	9
2005	United States v. Lafferty	387 F. Supp. 2d 500	8

Showing the 15 most-cited of 77 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 Kim R. Gibson?: President George W. Bush appointed Kim R. Gibson to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2003.
Was Kim R. Gibson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Kim R. Gibson was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Kim R. Gibson's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Kim R. Gibson 94–0 on September 23, 2003.
Which court was Kim R. Gibson on?: Kim R. Gibson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

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.

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