Lawrence K. Karlton
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Lawrence K. Karlton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1935–2015
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Columbia Law School 1958
- Succeeded
- Thomas Jamison MacBride
- Succeeded by
- Morrison C. England Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Eastern District of California succeeded Thomas Jamison MacBride | Carter (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
| Columbia Law School | J.D. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Karlton was assigned 6,570 district-court cases (1975–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 262 days across 6,566 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 311 of Karlton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 269 were affirmed, 33 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Karlton authored 214 published opinions for the court (1979–2011). Most cited: Richards v. Nielsen Freight Lines (635 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Richards v. Nielsen Freight Lines | 602 F. Supp. 1224 | 635 |
| 2000 | Environmental Council of Sacramento v. Slater | 184 F. Supp. 2d 1016 | 110 |
| 1995 | Coleman v. Wilson | 912 F. Supp. 1282 | 79 |
| 1995 | Newman v. Checkrite California, Inc. | 912 F. Supp. 1354 | 72 |
| 1982 | Hillery v. Pulley | 533 F. Supp. 1189 | 65 |
| 1987 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Main Hurdman | 655 F. Supp. 259 | 60 |
| 2010 | Adoma v. University of Phoenix, Inc. | 711 F. Supp. 2d 1142 | 57 |
| 1981 | Famolare, Inc. v. Edison Bros. Stores, Inc. | 525 F. Supp. 940 | 49 |
| 1985 | Sierra Club v. Watt | 608 F. Supp. 305 | 45 |
| 1991 | Mid Valley Bank v. North Valley Bank | 764 F. Supp. 1377 | 44 |
| 2009 | Champlaie v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP | 706 F. Supp. 2d 1029 | 43 |
| 1990 | Sullivan Ex Rel. Sullivan v. Vallejo City Unified School District | 731 F. Supp. 947 | 39 |
| 1980 | National Audubon Society v. Department of Water & Power | 496 F. Supp. 499 | 39 |
| 1981 | Kouba v. Allstate Insurance | 523 F. Supp. 148 | 37 |
| 2011 | Gorton v. Todd | 793 F. Supp. 2d 1171 | 36 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 214 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 Lawrence K. Karlton?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Lawrence K. Karlton to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 1979.
- Was Lawrence K. Karlton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Lawrence K. Karlton was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Lawrence K. Karlton's confirmation vote?
- Lawrence K. Karlton was confirmed by voice vote on July 23, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Lawrence K. Karlton on?
- Lawrence K. Karlton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Government (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.
35 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).