Who appointed Ortrie D. Smith?

President William J. Clinton appointed Ortrie D. Smith to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 1995.

Was Ortrie D. Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Ortrie D. Smith was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Ortrie D. Smith's confirmation vote?

Ortrie D. Smith was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Western District of Missouri / Appointed 1995 / Senior status since 2011

Ortrie D. Smith

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, Ortrie D. Smith is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. He earned a law degree from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1946 · age 80
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1995
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Missouri 1968 · University of Missouri-Kansas City Law 1971
Succeeded: Howard Frederic Sachs
Succeeded by: Mary Elizabeth Phillips

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1995	Western District of Missouri succeeded Howard Frederic Sachs	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

University of Missouri	B.A.	1968
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law	J.D.	1971

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Smith was assigned 4,351 district-court cases (1994–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 185 days across 4,350 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas32%

Civil rights16%

Personal-injury torts11%

Contract11%

Other federal statutes8%

Social Security8%

Other14%

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 295 of Smith’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 267 were affirmed, 15 reversed or vacated, and 13 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, Smith authored 40 published opinions for the court (1996–2010). Most cited: United States Department of Education v. Rose (In Re Rose) (29 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
1998	United States Department of Education v. Rose (In Re Rose)	227 B.R. 518	29
2000	H & R Block Eastern Tax Services, Inc. v. Enchura	122 F. Supp. 2d 1067	15
1998	Fielder v. Credit Acceptance Corp.	19 F. Supp. 2d 966	13
2010	United States v. Stover	731 F. Supp. 2d 887	11
1996	Gorman v. Bartch	925 F. Supp. 653	11
2010	Hallmark Cards, Inc. v. Monitor Clipper Partners, LLC	757 F. Supp. 2d 904	10
1998	Central Associated Carriers, Inc. v. Nickelberry	995 F. Supp. 1031	10
1998	Harmon Industries, Inc. v. Browner	19 F. Supp. 2d 988	9
2003	Frye v. Police Dept. of Kansas City, Missouri	260 F. Supp. 2d 796	8
1997	DeBruce Grain, Inc. v. Union Pacific Railroad	983 F. Supp. 1280	8
2000	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hickman Mills Consolidated School District No. 1	99 F. Supp. 2d 1070	7
2008	Gates v. City of Lebanon	585 F. Supp. 2d 1096	5
2007	United States v. Lewis	504 F. Supp. 2d 708	4
1997	Missouri State Colleges & Universities Group Insurance Consortium, Inc. v. Business Men's Assurance Co. of America	980 F. Supp. 1333	4
1997	Midland Psychiatric Associates, Inc. v. United States	969 F. Supp. 543	4

Showing the 15 most-cited of 40 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 Ortrie D. Smith?: President William J. Clinton appointed Ortrie D. Smith to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 1995.
Was Ortrie D. Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Ortrie D. Smith was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Ortrie D. Smith's confirmation vote?: Ortrie D. Smith was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Ortrie D. Smith on?: Ortrie D. Smith is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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