Melinda Harmon
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 and confirmed by voice vote, Melinda Harmon is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1946 · age 80
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1989
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Radcliffe College 1969 · University of Texas Law 1972
- Succeeded
- John Virgil Singleton Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Jeffrey Vincent Brown
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Southern District of Texas succeeded John Virgil Singleton Jr. | G.H.W. Bush (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
| Radcliffe College | A.B. | 1969 |
| University of Texas School of Law | J.D. | 1972 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Harmon was assigned 8,063 district-court cases (1981–2018). Median time from filing to termination: 284 days across 8,061 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 322 of Harmon’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 272 were affirmed, 29 reversed or vacated, and 21 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, Harmon authored 126 published opinions for the court (1989–2012). Most cited: Dixon v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (91 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Dixon v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 799 F. Supp. 691 | 91 |
| 2006 | In Re Enron Corp. Securities | 529 F. Supp. 2d 644 | 55 |
| 1998 | United States Ex Rel. Thompson v. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. | 20 F. Supp. 2d 1017 | 52 |
| 2011 | In Re Enron Corp. Securities, Derivative & Erisa Lit. | 761 F. Supp. 2d 504 | 47 |
| 2001 | In Re Securities Litigation BMC Software, Inc. | 183 F. Supp. 2d 860 | 45 |
| 2010 | Lopez v. Kempthorne | 684 F. Supp. 2d 827 | 40 |
| 2008 | Floyd v. Hefner | 556 F. Supp. 2d 617 | 35 |
| 2006 | In Re Enron Corporation Securities | 465 F. Supp. 2d 687 | 26 |
| 2005 | In Re Enron Corp. Securities, Derivative | 511 F. Supp. 2d 742 | 26 |
| 1997 | Decker v. University of Houston | 970 F. Supp. 575 | 26 |
| 1995 | Robinson v. City of Friendswood | 890 F. Supp. 616 | 25 |
| 1992 | Lawal v. British Airways, PLC | 812 F. Supp. 713 | 25 |
| 2011 | Humphrey v. United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast | 802 F. Supp. 2d 847 | 24 |
| 2005 | In Re Enron Corp. Securities, Derivative | 388 F. Supp. 2d 780 | 24 |
| 1989 | Greggs v. Hillman Distributing Co. | 719 F. Supp. 552 | 23 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 126 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 Melinda Harmon?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Melinda Harmon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1989.
- Was Melinda Harmon appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Melinda Harmon was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Melinda Harmon's confirmation vote?
- Melinda Harmon was confirmed by voice vote on May 18, 1989. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Melinda Harmon on?
- Melinda Harmon is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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.
37 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).