Eastern District of California / Appointed 1991 / Served to 2011

Oliver Winston Wanger

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, Oliver Winston Wanger was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1940 · age 86
Appointed by
George H.W. Bush, 1991
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Southern California 1963 · University of California, Berkeley, Law 1966

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1991Eastern District of CaliforniaG.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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Wanger was assigned 6,083 district-court cases (1982–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 265 days across 6,082 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas54%
Civil rights11%
Contract9%
Other federal statutes6%
Personal-injury torts4%
Social Security4%
Other13%

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 233 of Wanger’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 188 were affirmed, 25 reversed or vacated, and 20 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, Wanger authored 174 published opinions for the court (1991–2011). Most cited: United States v. Westlands Water District (263 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
2001United States v. Westlands Water District134 F. Supp. 2d 1111263
2011Jadwin v. County of Kern767 F. Supp. 2d 106990
2005Neveu v. City of Fresno392 F. Supp. 2d 115983
2004United States v. Southern California Edison Co.300 F. Supp. 2d 96474
2008Lopes v. Vieira543 F. Supp. 2d 114956
2010Clarke v. Upton703 F. Supp. 2d 103755
2010Jensen v. Quality Loan Service Corp.702 F. Supp. 2d 118348
2011Nasrawi v. Buck Consultants, LLC776 F. Supp. 2d 116638
1993Sumner Peck Ranch, Inc. v. Bureau of Reclamation823 F. Supp. 71538
2002FMC Corp. v. Vendo Co.196 F. Supp. 2d 102337
1999Barapind v. Reno72 F. Supp. 2d 113237
2009Roe Ex Rel. Callahan v. Gustine Unified School District678 F. Supp. 2d 100832
1993In Re Dinubilo177 B.R. 93232
2009Jadwin v. County of Kern610 F. Supp. 2d 112930
2009Creighton v. City of Livingston628 F. Supp. 2d 119929

Showing the 15 most-cited of 174 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 Oliver Winston Wanger?
President George H.W. Bush appointed Oliver Winston Wanger to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 1991.
Was Oliver Winston Wanger appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Oliver Winston Wanger 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 Oliver Winston Wanger's confirmation vote?
Oliver Winston Wanger was confirmed by voice vote on March 21, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Oliver Winston Wanger on?
Oliver Winston Wanger was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).