Michael James Davis
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Michael James Davis is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. He earned a law degree from University of Minnesota Law School in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1947 · age 79
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Macalester College 1969 · University of Minnesota Law School 1972
- Succeeded
- Harry Hunter MacLaughlin
- Succeeded by
- Wilhelmina Marie Wright
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | District of Minnesota succeeded Harry Hunter MacLaughlin | 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
| Macalester College | B.A. | 1969 |
| University of Minnesota Law School | J.D. | 1972 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Davis was assigned 16,418 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 366 days across 16,273 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 412 of Davis’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 355 were affirmed, 32 reversed or vacated, and 25 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, Davis authored 185 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Fokkena v. Hartwick (46 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Fokkena v. Hartwick | 373 B.R. 645 | 46 |
| 2010 | Daigle v. Ford Motor Co. | 713 F. Supp. 2d 822 | 41 |
| 1996 | Lens Crafters, Inc. v. Vision World, Inc. | 943 F. Supp. 1481 | 41 |
| 2007 | Burch v. Qwest Communications International, Inc. | 500 F. Supp. 2d 1181 | 35 |
| 1999 | Shanti, Inc. v. Reno | 36 F. Supp. 2d 1151 | 34 |
| 1996 | Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. v. Mylan Laboratories, Inc. | 944 F. Supp. 1411 | 31 |
| 1996 | Knapp v. Commonwealth Land Title Ins. Co., Inc. | 932 F. Supp. 1169 | 25 |
| 2005 | 3M Innovative Properties Co. v. Dupont Dow Elastomers LLC | 361 F. Supp. 2d 958 | 21 |
| 1995 | Klehr v. A.O. Smith Corp. | 875 F. Supp. 1342 | 21 |
| 2005 | Freeman v. Ace Telephone Ass'n | 404 F. Supp. 2d 1127 | 20 |
| 2008 | Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas | 579 F. Supp. 2d 1210 | 19 |
| 2001 | Meyer v. Dygert | 156 F. Supp. 2d 1081 | 18 |
| 1996 | Polanco v. H.B. Fuller Co. | 941 F. Supp. 1512 | 18 |
| 2005 | Sierra Club v. Bosworth | 352 F. Supp. 2d 909 | 17 |
| 2003 | Vonage Holdings Corp. v. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission | 290 F. Supp. 2d 993 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 185 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 Michael James Davis?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Michael James Davis to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1994.
- Was Michael James Davis appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Michael James Davis was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Michael James Davis's confirmation vote?
- Michael James Davis was confirmed by voice vote on March 25, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Michael James Davis on?
- Michael James Davis is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: U.S. Department of Justice (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.
32 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).