Who appointed M. Blane Michael?

President William J. Clinton appointed M. Blane Michael to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1993.

Was M. Blane Michael appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

M. Blane Michael was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was M. Blane Michael's confirmation vote?

M. Blane Michael was confirmed by voice vote on September 30, 1993. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Fourth Circuit / Appointed 1993 / Served to 2011

M. Blane Michael

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1993 and confirmed by voice vote, M. Blane Michael was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He earned a law degree from New York University School of Law in 1968. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1943–2011
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1993
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: West Virginia 1965 · New York Law 1968
Succeeded: James Marshall Sprouse
Succeeded by: Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1993	Fourth Circuit succeeded James Marshall Sprouse	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

West Virginia University	A.B.	1965
New York University School of Law	J.D.	1968

Judicial Record

In our data, Michael authored 2 published opinions for the court (2011). Most cited: United States v. MacDonald (50 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2011	United States v. MacDonald	641 F.3d 596	50
2011	Goldman v. Capital City Mortgage Corp. (In Re Nieves)	648 F.3d 232	28

Showing the 2 most-cited of 2 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 M. Blane Michael?: President William J. Clinton appointed M. Blane Michael to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1993.
Was M. Blane Michael appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: M. Blane Michael was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was M. Blane Michael's confirmation vote?: M. Blane Michael was confirmed by voice vote on September 30, 1993. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was M. Blane Michael on?: M. Blane Michael was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

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17 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).