Who appointed Richard R. Clifton?

President George W. Bush appointed Richard R. Clifton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2002.

Was Richard R. Clifton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Richard R. Clifton was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Richard R. Clifton's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Richard R. Clifton 98–0 on July 18, 2002.

Ninth Circuit / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2016

Richard R. Clifton

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by the Senate 98–0, Richard R. Clifton is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1975. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1950 · age 76
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: 98–0
Education: Princeton 1972 · Yale Law School 1975
Succeeded: Cynthia Holcomb Hall
Succeeded by: Mark Jeremy Bennett

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2002	Ninth Circuit succeeded Cynthia Holcomb Hall	G.W. Bush (R)	98–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 98–0 on July 18, 2002 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 184. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 98

50 D, 47 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 2

2 R

Jesse Helms(R-NC)
George Voinovich(R-OH)

Education

Princeton University	A.B.	1972
Yale Law School	J.D.	1975

Judicial Record

In our data, Clifton authored 30 published opinions for the court (2007–2011). Most cited: Ghomeshi v. Sabban (219 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2010	Ghomeshi v. Sabban	600 F.3d 1219	219
2009	Montour v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance	588 F.3d 623	214
2009	United States v. Brobst	558 F.3d 982	92
2011	Velasquez v. Kirkland	639 F.3d 964	88
2011	Coleman v. Estes Express Lines, Inc.	631 F.3d 1010	76
2009	Libberton v. Ryan	583 F.3d 1147	62
2010	PhotoMedex, Inc. v. Irwin	601 F.3d 919	58
2010	Benay v. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.	607 F.3d 620	57
2007	Suter v. Goedert	504 F.3d 982	53
2007	White v. City of Sparks	500 F.3d 953	49
2011	GoPets Ltd. v. Hise	657 F.3d 1024	42
2010	Retuta v. Holder	591 F.3d 1181	40
2008	McClung v. City of Sumner	548 F.3d 1219	36
2007	Dent v. Cox Communications Las Vegas, Inc.	502 F.3d 1141	33
2009	United States v. Berger	587 F.3d 1038	26

Showing the 15 most-cited of 30 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 R. Clifton?: President George W. Bush appointed Richard R. Clifton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2002.
Was Richard R. Clifton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Richard R. Clifton was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Richard R. Clifton's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Richard R. Clifton 98–0 on July 18, 2002.
Which court is Richard R. Clifton on?: Richard R. Clifton is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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