Manuel Lawrence Real
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and confirmed by voice vote, Manuel Lawrence Real was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California in 1951. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1924–2019
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Southern California 1948 · Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California 1951
- Succeeded by
- Sherilyn Peace Garnett
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Central District of California | L.B. Johnson (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Real was assigned 9,595 district-court cases (1972–2019). Median time from filing to termination: 145 days across 9,595 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 472 of Real’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 287 were affirmed, 107 reversed or vacated, and 78 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, Real authored 59 published opinions for the court (1967–2009). Most cited: Spangler v. Pasadena City Board of Education (60 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Spangler v. Pasadena City Board of Education | 311 F. Supp. 501 | 60 |
| 1969 | Gunstream v. United States | 307 F. Supp. 366 | 25 |
| 1974 | United States v. a Quantity of Gold Jewelry | 379 F. Supp. 283 | 24 |
| 1967 | Olympic Capital Corporation v. Newman | 276 F. Supp. 646 | 24 |
| 1977 | Yott v. North American Rockwell Corp. | 428 F. Supp. 763 | 23 |
| 1995 | Easton v. Crossland Mortgage Corp. | 905 F. Supp. 1368 | 20 |
| 1971 | Walt Disney Productions v. United States | 327 F. Supp. 189 | 20 |
| 1974 | Spangler v. Pasadena City Board of Education | 375 F. Supp. 1304 | 19 |
| 1967 | Magna Pictures Corp. v. Paramount Pictures Corp. | 265 F. Supp. 144 | 16 |
| 2006 | Center for Biological Diversity v. Marina Point Development Associates | 434 F. Supp. 2d 789 | 15 |
| 1974 | Spangler v. Pasadena City Board of Education | 384 F. Supp. 846 | 13 |
| 1974 | Weinstock v. Sinatra | 379 F. Supp. 274 | 12 |
| 1974 | McDonald v. National Collegiate Athletic Association | 370 F. Supp. 625 | 11 |
| 1973 | Rath Packing Company v. Becker | 357 F. Supp. 529 | 11 |
| 1985 | Creaton v. Heckler | 625 F. Supp. 26 | 10 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 59 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 Manuel Lawrence Real?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Manuel Lawrence Real to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1966.
- Was Manuel Lawrence Real appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Manuel Lawrence Real was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Manuel Lawrence Real's confirmation vote?
- Manuel Lawrence Real was confirmed by voice vote on October 20, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Manuel Lawrence Real on?
- Manuel Lawrence Real was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central 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.
52 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).