Nancy Friedman Atlas
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, Nancy Friedman Atlas was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She earned a law degree from New York University School of Law in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1995
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Tufts 1971 · New York Law 1974
- Succeeded
- James DeAnda
- Succeeded by
- George Carol Hanks Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Southern District of Texas succeeded James DeAnda | 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
| Tufts University | B.S. | 1971 |
| New York University School of Law | J.D. | 1974 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Atlas was assigned 6,651 district-court cases (1985–2020). Median time from filing to termination: 189 days across 6,647 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 341 of Atlas’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 278 were affirmed, 35 reversed or vacated, and 28 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, Atlas authored 194 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: Magee v. Life Insurance Co. of North America (82 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Magee v. Life Insurance Co. of North America | 261 F. Supp. 2d 738 | 82 |
| 1998 | N.W. Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Houston | 27 F. Supp. 2d 754 | 39 |
| 1997 | Neles-Jamesbury, Inc. v. Bill's Valves | 974 F. Supp. 979 | 29 |
| 1996 | Seariver Maritime Financial Holdings, Inc. v. Pena | 952 F. Supp. 455 | 29 |
| 2003 | Villatoro v. Kim Son Restaurant, L.P. | 286 F. Supp. 2d 807 | 26 |
| 2010 | Duke Energy International, L.L.C. v. Napoli | 748 F. Supp. 2d 656 | 24 |
| 2001 | TIG Insurance v. Sedgwick James of Washington | 184 F. Supp. 2d 591 | 24 |
| 1996 | Derrick Manufacturing Corp. v. Southwestern Wire Cloth, Inc. | 934 F. Supp. 796 | 24 |
| 1996 | Andrade v. Chojnacki | 934 F. Supp. 817 | 23 |
| 2009 | Floyd v. CIBC World Markets, Inc. | 426 B.R. 622 | 22 |
| 2005 | Spiegelberg v. Collegiate Licensing Co. | 402 F. Supp. 2d 786 | 21 |
| 2001 | Malone v. Scottsdale Insurance | 147 F. Supp. 2d 623 | 21 |
| 1997 | Weaver v. Kellogg | 216 B.R. 563 | 21 |
| 2010 | Collins-Pearcy v. Mediterranean Shipping Co. (USA) | 698 F. Supp. 2d 730 | 19 |
| 2001 | Olander v. Compass Bank & Compass Bancshares, Inc. | 172 F. Supp. 2d 846 | 19 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 194 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 Nancy Friedman Atlas?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Nancy Friedman Atlas to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1995.
- Was Nancy Friedman Atlas appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Nancy Friedman Atlas was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Nancy Friedman Atlas's confirmation vote?
- Nancy Friedman Atlas was confirmed by voice vote on June 30, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Nancy Friedman Atlas on?
- Nancy Friedman Atlas was 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
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
27 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).