Eastern District of Virginia / Appointed 1967 / Served to 1996

Richard Boykin Kellam

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Boykin Kellam was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1909–1996
Appointed by
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967
Confirmed
by voice vote

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1967Eastern District of VirginiaL.B. Johnson (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

Read law1934

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Kellam was assigned 379 district-court cases (1977–1997). Median time from filing to termination: 160 days across 379 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas35%
Personal-injury torts25%
Civil rights12%
Contract11%
Bankruptcy3%
Labor & ERISA3%
Other11%

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, Kellam authored 68 published opinions for the court (1968–1992). Most cited: Brown v. Buchanan (63 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

Showing the 15 most-cited of 68 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 Boykin Kellam?
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Richard Boykin Kellam to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1967.
Was Richard Boykin Kellam appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Richard Boykin Kellam was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Richard Boykin Kellam's confirmation vote?
Richard Boykin Kellam was confirmed by voice vote on August 18, 1967. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Richard Boykin Kellam on?
Richard Boykin Kellam was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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