Who appointed Paul Edward Plunkett?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Paul Edward Plunkett to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1982.

Was Paul Edward Plunkett appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Paul Edward Plunkett was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Paul Edward Plunkett's confirmation vote?

Paul Edward Plunkett was confirmed by voice vote on December 10, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of Illinois / Appointed 1982 / Served to 2018

Paul Edward Plunkett

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, Paul Edward Plunkett was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1935–2018
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1982
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Harvard 1957 · Harvard Law School 1960
Succeeded: James Benton Parsons
Succeeded by: Matthew F. Kennelly

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1982	Northern District of Illinois succeeded James Benton Parsons	Reagan (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

Harvard University	B.A.	1957
Harvard Law School	J.D.	1960

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Plunkett was assigned 3,686 district-court cases (1975–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 136 days across 3,686 closed cases.

Labor & ERISA18%

Real property17%

Civil rights16%

Prisoner & habeas12%

Contract12%

Other federal statutes8%

Other18%

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, Plunkett authored 125 published opinions for the court (1983–2006). Most cited: Johnson v. Johnson (64 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1988	Johnson v. Johnson	701 F. Supp. 1363	64
1984	Bailey v. Binyon	583 F. Supp. 923	43
1993	Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. v. Kapoor	814 F. Supp. 720	30
1987	Banner Industries, Inc. v. Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund	657 F. Supp. 875	29
1988	Levit v. Ingersoll Rand Financial Corp. (In Re V.N. Deprizio Construction Co.)	86 B.R. 545	26
1987	American Saw & Mfg. Co. v. Bosler Supply Group (In Re Bosler Supply Group)	74 B.R. 250	26
1986	Leverage Leasing Corp. v. Reitz (In Re Reitz)	69 B.R. 192	26
1993	Graham v. City of Chicago	828 F. Supp. 576	25
1996	Bank of America, Illinois v. 203 North Lasalle Street Partnership	195 B.R. 692	24
1991	Resolution Trust Corp. v. Krantz	757 F. Supp. 915	24
1990	Chicago Bank of Commerce v. Amalgamated Trust & Savings Bank (In Re Memorial Estates, Inc.)	116 B.R. 108	23
1993	Neal v. Honeywell, Inc.	826 F. Supp. 266	22
1986	Karel v. Kroner	635 F. Supp. 725	21
1995	Matter of 203 North LaSalle Street Partnership	190 B.R. 595	18
1985	Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Niro's Palace, Inc.	619 F. Supp. 958	18

Showing the 15 most-cited of 125 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 Paul Edward Plunkett?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Paul Edward Plunkett to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1982.
Was Paul Edward Plunkett appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Paul Edward Plunkett was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Paul Edward Plunkett's confirmation vote?: Paul Edward Plunkett was confirmed by voice vote on December 10, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Paul Edward Plunkett on?: Paul Edward Plunkett was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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