Middle District of Louisiana / Appointed 1998 / Served to 2011

Ralph E. Tyson

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Ralph E. Tyson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. He earned a law degree from Louisiana State University Law School (now Paul M. Hebert Law Center) in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1948–2011
Appointed by
William J. Clinton, 1998
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Louisiana State 1970 · Louisiana State Law School (now Paul M. Hebert Law Center) 1973

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1998Middle District of LouisianaClinton (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Tyson was assigned 3,279 district-court cases (1988–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 163 days across 3,279 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas35%
Personal-injury torts23%
Civil rights14%
Contract10%
Other federal statutes7%
Labor & ERISA4%
Other8%

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 94 of Tyson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 65 were affirmed, 17 reversed or vacated, and 12 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, Tyson authored 13 published opinions for the court (2002–2010). Most cited: Wilkerson v. Stalder (21 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
2007Wilkerson v. Stalder639 F. Supp. 2d 65421
2006Guidry v. Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.418 F. Supp. 2d 8358
2002Mincey v. Dow Chemical Co.217 F. Supp. 2d 7377
2008Davenport v. Hamilton, Brown, & Babst, L.L.C.624 F. Supp. 2d 5424
2008Firefighters' Retirement System v. Regions Bank598 F. Supp. 2d 7853
2008AMERICAN GENERAL LIFE INS. CO., INC. v. Wilkes619 F. Supp. 2d 2522
2010Jones v. HANCOCK HOLDING CO.707 F. Supp. 2d 6701
2009LeBlanc v. Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission676 F. Supp. 2d 4601
2006Clayton v. American Security Insurance466 F. Supp. 2d 7201
2003Cooperative Benefit Administrators, Inc. v. Ogden265 F. Supp. 2d 6621
2008Scott v. Livingston Parish School Board548 F. Supp. 2d 2650
2007Humana Insurance v. LeBlanc524 F. Supp. 2d 7640
2002In Re Iowa Fleeting Service, Inc. v. Eckstein211 F. Supp. 2d 7940

Showing the 13 most-cited of 13 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 Ralph E. Tyson?
President William J. Clinton appointed Ralph E. Tyson to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in 1998.
Was Ralph E. Tyson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Ralph E. Tyson was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Ralph E. Tyson's confirmation vote?
Ralph E. Tyson was confirmed by voice vote on July 31, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Ralph E. Tyson on?
Ralph E. Tyson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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