Who appointed Phyllis Jean Hamilton?

President William J. Clinton appointed Phyllis Jean Hamilton to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2000.

Was Phyllis Jean Hamilton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Phyllis Jean Hamilton was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Phyllis Jean Hamilton's confirmation vote?

Phyllis Jean Hamilton was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of California / Appointed 2000 / Senior status since 2021

Phyllis Jean Hamilton

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

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Phyllis Jean Hamilton is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She earned a law degree from University of Santa Clara (now Santa Clara University) School of Law in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1952 · age 74
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 2000
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Stanford 1974 · University of Santa Clara (now Santa Clara) Law 1976
Succeeded by: Trina Lynn Thompson

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2000	Northern District of California	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

Stanford University	B.A.	1974
University of Santa Clara (now Santa Clara University) School of Law	J.D.	1976

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Hamilton was assigned 5,745 district-court cases (1985–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 139 days across 5,515 closed cases.

Other civil matters30%

Prisoner & habeas11%

Civil rights10%

Contract8%

Other federal statutes7%

Personal-injury torts7%

Other25%

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 358 of Hamilton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 283 were affirmed, 43 reversed or vacated, and 32 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, Hamilton authored 79 published opinions for the court (1996–2011). Most cited: Shanghai Automation Instrument Co., Ltd. v. Kuei (183 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
2001	Shanghai Automation Instrument Co., Ltd. v. Kuei	194 F. Supp. 2d 995	183
2010	Craigslist, Inc. v. NATUREMARKET, INC.	694 F. Supp. 2d 1039	143
2011	Moeller v. Taco Bell Corp.	816 F. Supp. 2d 831	60
2008	In Re Dynamic Random Access Memory (Dram) Antitrust Litigation	536 F. Supp. 2d 1129	45
2011	Gregory Village Partners, L.P. v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc.	805 F. Supp. 2d 888	44
2010	In Re Bare Escentuals, Inc. Securities Litigation	745 F. Supp. 2d 1052	42
2009	Rosal v. First Federal Bank of California	671 F. Supp. 2d 1111	41
2007	In Re Verisign, Inc., Derivative Litigation	531 F. Supp. 2d 1173	40
2003	In Re Sagent Technology, Inc., Derivative Litig.	278 F. Supp. 2d 1079	37
2003	Visa U.S.A., Inc. v. First Data Corp.	241 F. Supp. 2d 1100	32
2011	Cozzi v. County of Marin	787 F. Supp. 2d 1047	26
2009	Committee for Immigrant Rights v. County of Sonoma	644 F. Supp. 2d 1177	22
2007	Citizens for Better Forestry v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture	481 F. Supp. 2d 1059	20
2004	Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Ashcroft	320 F. Supp. 2d 957	19
2009	Fortaleza v. PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.	642 F. Supp. 2d 1012	18

Showing the 15 most-cited of 79 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 Phyllis Jean Hamilton?: President William J. Clinton appointed Phyllis Jean Hamilton to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2000.
Was Phyllis Jean Hamilton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Phyllis Jean Hamilton was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Phyllis Jean Hamilton's confirmation vote?: Phyllis Jean Hamilton was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Phyllis Jean Hamilton on?: Phyllis Jean Hamilton is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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.

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