Matthew James Perry Jr.
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Matthew James Perry Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. He earned a law degree from South Carolina State School of Law in 1951. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1921–2011
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Colored Normal Industrial & Mechanical College of S. Car. (now S. Car. State U.) 1948 · South Carolina State Law 1951
- Succeeded by
- Patrick Michael Duffy
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | District of South Carolina | 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
| Colored Normal Industrial & Mechanical College of S. Car. (now S. Car. State U.) | B.S. | 1948 |
| South Carolina State School of Law | LL.B. | 1951 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Perry was assigned 4,757 district-court cases (1983–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 357 days across 4,757 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 90 of Perry’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 83 were affirmed, 3 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Perry authored 30 published opinions for the court (1982–2011). Most cited: Sunshine Sportswear & Electronics, Inc. v. WSOC-Television, Inc. (24 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Sunshine Sportswear & Electronics, Inc. v. WSOC-Television, Inc. | 738 F. Supp. 1499 | 24 |
| 1995 | Pitten v. Jacobs | 903 F. Supp. 937 | 21 |
| 1995 | American Color & Chemical Corp. v. Tenneco Polymers, Inc. | 918 F. Supp. 945 | 20 |
| 1995 | Condon v. Reno | 913 F. Supp. 946 | 19 |
| 1983 | Hovis v. Wright (In Re Wright) | 39 B.R. 623 | 19 |
| 1983 | South Carolina Ex Rel. Patrick v. Block | 558 F. Supp. 1004 | 13 |
| 1990 | Hines v. United Parcel Service, Inc. | 736 F. Supp. 675 | 11 |
| 1982 | Donovan v. Peter Zimmer America, Inc. | 557 F. Supp. 642 | 11 |
| 2009 | Duggan v. Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals | 663 F. Supp. 2d 456 | 8 |
| 1995 | Lindsey Ex Rel. Lindsey v. City of Beaufort | 911 F. Supp. 962 | 8 |
| 1991 | Hazardous Waste Treatment Council v. South Carolina | 766 F. Supp. 431 | 6 |
| 1982 | McGann v. Mungo | 578 F. Supp. 1413 | 6 |
| 2009 | United States v. Neely | 595 F. Supp. 2d 662 | 5 |
| 1998 | Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Gaston Copper Recycling Corp. | 9 F. Supp. 2d 589 | 5 |
| 1984 | Kennedy v. United States | 585 F. Supp. 1119 | 5 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 30 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 Matthew James Perry Jr.?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Matthew James Perry Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in 1979.
- Was Matthew James Perry Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Matthew James Perry Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Matthew James Perry Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Matthew James Perry Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 19, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Matthew James Perry Jr. on?
- Matthew James Perry Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of South Carolina (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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).