Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr.
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by the Senate 43–25, Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. He earned a law degree from University of Mississippi School of Law in 1959. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1933–2011
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- 43–25
- Education
- Mississippi Southern College (now of Southern Mississippi) 1956 · University of Mississippi Law 1959
- Succeeded
- Orma Rinehart Smith
- Succeeded by
- W. Allen Pepper Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Northern District of Mississippi succeeded Orma Rinehart Smith | Carter (D) | 43–25 |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.
Confirmation vote
The Senate’s published per-senator roll-call records begin in 1989, so no senator-by-senator breakdown is available for this vote.
Education
| National Judicial College | ||
| Mississippi Southern College (now University of Southern Mississippi) | B.S. | 1956 |
| University of Mississippi School of Law | LL.B. | 1959 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Senter was assigned 2,642 district-court cases (1983–2001). Median time from filing to termination: 338 days across 2,637 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, Senter authored 120 published opinions for the court (1980–2001). Most cited: Pegues v. Emerson Electric Co. (69 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Pegues v. Emerson Electric Co. | 913 F. Supp. 976 | 69 |
| 1987 | Putman v. Insurance Co. of North America | 673 F. Supp. 171 | 54 |
| 1984 | York v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. | 585 F. Supp. 1265 | 35 |
| 1996 | Great Northern Nekoosa Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. | 921 F. Supp. 401 | 27 |
| 1995 | Rakestraw v. Carpenter Co. | 898 F. Supp. 386 | 27 |
| 1988 | Eichenseer v. Reserve Life Insurance | 682 F. Supp. 1355 | 27 |
| 1986 | Davidson v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 641 F. Supp. 503 | 26 |
| 1988 | Mattox v. Western Fidelity Insurance | 694 F. Supp. 210 | 18 |
| 1993 | United States v. Marlar | 828 F. Supp. 415 | 15 |
| 1986 | Pruett v. Thigpen | 665 F. Supp. 1254 | 15 |
| 1990 | Munn v. Algee | 730 F. Supp. 21 | 14 |
| 1996 | Pruett v. Dumas | 914 F. Supp. 133 | 13 |
| 1988 | Pedersen v. Chrysler Life Insurance | 677 F. Supp. 472 | 13 |
| 1983 | Goldstein v. Allain | 568 F. Supp. 1377 | 13 |
| 1981 | Green v. Oktibbeha County Hospital | 526 F. Supp. 49 | 13 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 120 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 Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr.?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in 1979.
- Was Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- The Senate confirmed Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. 43–25 on December 20, 1979.
- Which court was Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. on?
- Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).