Who appointed Richard Mansfield Bilby?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Richard Mansfield Bilby to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in 1979.

Was Richard Mansfield Bilby appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Richard Mansfield Bilby was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Richard Mansfield Bilby's confirmation vote?

Richard Mansfield Bilby was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Arizona / Appointed 1979 / Served to 1998

Richard Mansfield Bilby

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Mansfield Bilby was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1931–1998
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Arizona 1955 · University of Michigan Law School 1958
Succeeded: William C. Frey
Succeeded by: Frank R. Zapata

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1979	District of Arizona succeeded William C. Frey	Carter (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 Arizona	B.S.	1955
University of Michigan Law School	J.D.	1958

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Bilby was assigned 797 district-court cases (1985–1998). Median time from filing to termination: 267 days across 797 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas52%

Contract12%

Personal-injury torts8%

Civil rights6%

Bankruptcy6%

Other federal statutes6%

Other10%

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, Bilby authored 36 published opinions for the court (1981–1997). Most cited: In Re American Continental Corporation/Lincoln Savings & Loan Securities Litigation (42 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1992	In Re American Continental Corporation/Lincoln Savings & Loan Securities Litigation	794 F. Supp. 1424	42
1984	United States v. Metate Asbestos Corp.	584 F. Supp. 1143	38
1995	United States v. Walsh	873 F. Supp. 334	31
1996	Spratt v. Northern Automotive Corp.	958 F. Supp. 456	24
1994	Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York v. Patrician St. Joseph Partners Ltd. Partnership (In Re Patrician St. Joseph Partners Ltd. Partnership)	169 B.R. 669	23
1992	Lyle v. Sivley	805 F. Supp. 755	20
1997	Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, Inc. v. Woods	982 F. Supp. 1369	14
1992	Lisa Frank, Inc. v. Impact International, Inc.	799 F. Supp. 980	14
1992	Anguiano v. EI DuPont De Nemours and Co., Inc.	808 F. Supp. 719	12
1992	Still v. Michaels	791 F. Supp. 248	12
1991	Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Dannenfeldt	778 F. Supp. 484	11
1988	Lavetter v. International Playtex	706 F. Supp. 722	10
1996	Southwest Center for Biological Diversity v. Babbitt	926 F. Supp. 920	8
1989	Cabezas v. Scott	717 F. Supp. 696	7
1996	Perry v. Chen	985 F. Supp. 1197	6

Showing the 15 most-cited of 36 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 Richard Mansfield Bilby?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Richard Mansfield Bilby to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in 1979.
Was Richard Mansfield Bilby appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Richard Mansfield Bilby was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Richard Mansfield Bilby's confirmation vote?: Richard Mansfield Bilby was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Richard Mansfield Bilby on?: Richard Mansfield Bilby was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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