Odell Horton
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, Odell Horton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2006
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1980
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Morehouse College 1951 · Howard Law 1956
- Succeeded
- Bailey Brown
- Succeeded by
- Bernice Bouie Donald
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Western District of Tennessee succeeded Bailey Brown | 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
| Morehouse College | B.A. | 1951 |
| Howard University School of Law | LL.B. | 1956 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Horton was assigned 969 district-court cases (1986–1997). Median time from filing to termination: 169 days across 967 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, Horton authored 44 published opinions for the court (1981–1998). Most cited: Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp. (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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp. | 647 F. Supp. 303 | 25 |
| 1983 | Muller Optical Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 574 F. Supp. 946 | 23 |
| 1983 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. St. Joseph Paper Co. | 557 F. Supp. 435 | 17 |
| 1981 | Harris v. Richards Manufacturing Co. | 511 F. Supp. 1193 | 17 |
| 1981 | Brandon v. Allen | 516 F. Supp. 1355 | 14 |
| 1982 | Taylor v. Haywood County, Tenn. | 544 F. Supp. 1122 | 13 |
| 1981 | Thompson v. Rose | 505 F. Supp. 183 | 11 |
| 1983 | Thomson McKinnon Securities, Inc. v. Moore's Farm Supply, Inc. | 557 F. Supp. 1004 | 10 |
| 1983 | Greene v. Costle | 577 F. Supp. 1225 | 9 |
| 1981 | McHaney v. Spears | 526 F. Supp. 566 | 9 |
| 1987 | Lowery v. WMC-TV | 658 F. Supp. 1240 | 8 |
| 1984 | Webb v. Insurance Co. of North America | 581 F. Supp. 244 | 8 |
| 1996 | Gregory v. Chemical Waste Management, Inc. | 38 F. Supp. 2d 598 | 7 |
| 1987 | Payne v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad | 665 F. Supp. 1308 | 7 |
| 1986 | Brandon v. Allen | 645 F. Supp. 1261 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 44 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 Odell Horton?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Odell Horton to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 1980.
- Was Odell Horton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Odell Horton was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Odell Horton's confirmation vote?
- Odell Horton was confirmed by voice vote on May 9, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Odell Horton on?
- Odell Horton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (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.
25 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).