Norman William Black
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Norman William Black was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1955. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–1997
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Texas 1953 · University of Texas Law 1955
- Succeeded by
- Keith P. Ellison
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Southern District of Texas | 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
| University of Texas | B.B.A. | 1953 |
| University of Texas School of Law | LL.B. | 1955 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Black was assigned 2,669 district-court cases (1981–1998). Median time from filing to termination: 244 days across 2,667 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.
In our data, Black authored 45 published opinions for the court (1979–2002). Most cited: Sequihua v. Texaco, Inc. (25 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Sequihua v. Texaco, Inc. | 847 F. Supp. 61 | 25 |
| 1981 | United States v. Fourteen (14) Handguns | 524 F. Supp. 395 | 25 |
| 1980 | Maher v. Zapata Corp. | 490 F. Supp. 348 | 20 |
| 1994 | Kern v. Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc. | 867 F. Supp. 525 | 19 |
| 1993 | Maxwell v. Henry | 815 F. Supp. 213 | 17 |
| 1980 | Doe v. McConn | 489 F. Supp. 76 | 17 |
| 1979 | Westland Oil Development Corp. v. Summit Transportation Co. | 481 F. Supp. 15 | 13 |
| 2002 | Herrera v. CTS Corp. | 183 F. Supp. 2d 921 | 12 |
| 1994 | Garza v. Galena Park Independent School District | 914 F. Supp. 1437 | 12 |
| 1991 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Shrader & York | 777 F. Supp. 533 | 9 |
| 1990 | Taylor v. Houston Lighting and Power Co. | 756 F. Supp. 297 | 9 |
| 1993 | Bonnette v. Shell Offshore, Inc. | 838 F. Supp. 1175 | 7 |
| 1991 | Jones v. Houston Independent School District | 805 F. Supp. 476 | 7 |
| 1991 | Hazelip v. Horridge (In Re Horridge) | 127 B.R. 798 | 7 |
| 1988 | United States v. Real Prop. L. at 2011 Calumet, Houston | 699 F. Supp. 108 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 45 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 Norman William Black?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Norman William Black to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1979.
- Was Norman William Black appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Norman William Black was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Norman William Black's confirmation vote?
- Norman William Black was confirmed by voice vote on May 10, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Norman William Black on?
- Norman William Black 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.
18 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).