Louis Charles Bechtle
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Louis Charles Bechtle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Temple University School of Law (now James E. Beasley School of Law) in 1954. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1927–2024
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Temple 1951 · Temple Law (now James E. Beasley School of Law) 1954
- Succeeded
- John Whitaker Lord Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Marjorie O. Rendell
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Eastern District of Pennsylvania succeeded John Whitaker Lord Jr. | Nixon (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
| Temple University | B.S. | 1951 |
| Temple University School of Law (now James E. Beasley School of Law) | LL.B. | 1954 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Bechtle was assigned 6,381 district-court cases (1983–2001). Median time from filing to termination: 490 days across 6,380 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.
In our data, Bechtle authored 324 published opinions for the court (1972–2001). Most cited: Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd. (105 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd. | 548 F. Supp. 357 | 105 |
| 1981 | Commonwealth State Employees' Retirement Fund v. Roane | 14 B.R. 542 | 52 |
| 1992 | Temp-Way Corp. v. Continental Bank | 139 B.R. 299 | 50 |
| 1990 | Burk v. Sage Products, Inc. | 747 F. Supp. 285 | 49 |
| 1973 | Gibbs v. Titelman | 369 F. Supp. 38 | 49 |
| 1979 | Coggins v. Carpenter | 468 F. Supp. 270 | 45 |
| 1972 | Arcos Corporation v. American Mutual Liability Ins. Co. | 350 F. Supp. 380 | 45 |
| 1981 | United States v. Osidach | 513 F. Supp. 51 | 44 |
| 1976 | Bernstein v. National Liberty International Corp. | 407 F. Supp. 709 | 44 |
| 1994 | Walnut Associates v. Saidel | 164 B.R. 487 | 43 |
| 1977 | Presseisen v. Swarthmore College | 442 F. Supp. 593 | 43 |
| 1975 | Kroungold v. Triester | 407 F. Supp. 414 | 41 |
| 1975 | Everett v. City of Chester | 391 F. Supp. 26 | 37 |
| 1987 | In Re Grant Broadcasting of Philadelphia, Inc. | 75 B.R. 819 | 36 |
| 1975 | United States v. Frumento | 405 F. Supp. 23 | 36 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 324 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 Louis Charles Bechtle?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Louis Charles Bechtle to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1972.
- Was Louis Charles Bechtle appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Louis Charles Bechtle was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Louis Charles Bechtle's confirmation vote?
- Louis Charles Bechtle was confirmed by voice vote on March 2, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Louis Charles Bechtle on?
- Louis Charles Bechtle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
29 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).