Richard Henry Mills
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Henry Mills was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Mercer University School of Law in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2023
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Illinois College 1951 · Mercer Law 1957
- Succeeded
- James Waldo Ackerman
- Succeeded by
- Jeanne E. Scott
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Central District of Illinois succeeded James Waldo Ackerman | Reagan (R) | 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
| Illinois College | B.A. | 1951 |
| Mercer University School of Law | J.D. | 1957 |
| University of Virginia School of Law | LL.M. | 1982 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Mills was assigned 3,983 district-court cases (1979–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 175 days across 3,983 closed cases.
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 63 of Mills’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 49 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Mills authored 342 published opinions for the court (1985–2011). Most cited: Illinois RSA No. 3, Inc. v. County of Peoria (55 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Illinois RSA No. 3, Inc. v. County of Peoria | 963 F. Supp. 732 | 55 |
| 1986 | Fleet Management Systems, Inc. v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. | 627 F. Supp. 550 | 38 |
| 1992 | Gadson v. Newman | 807 F. Supp. 1412 | 34 |
| 1994 | Hadley v. Peters | 841 F. Supp. 850 | 28 |
| 1996 | Joiner v. Ryder System Inc. | 966 F. Supp. 1478 | 26 |
| 1989 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Greenwood | 719 F. Supp. 749 | 26 |
| 1999 | United States v. Torres-Del Muro | 58 F. Supp. 2d 931 | 24 |
| 1992 | Brandt Consolidated, Inc. v. Agrimar Corp. | 801 F. Supp. 164 | 24 |
| 1990 | McQueen v. Shelby County | 730 F. Supp. 1449 | 22 |
| 1993 | Slagel v. Shell Oil Refinery | 811 F. Supp. 378 | 21 |
| 1987 | Western Waterproofing Co. v. Springfield Housing Authority | 669 F. Supp. 901 | 21 |
| 1989 | Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Greenwood | 739 F. Supp. 450 | 20 |
| 1998 | United States v. Smith | 27 F. Supp. 2d 1111 | 19 |
| 1986 | Magill v. Springfield Marine Bank (In Re Heissinger Resources Ltd.) | 67 B.R. 378 | 19 |
| 1997 | Vann v. Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon of Springfield, Inc. | 967 F. Supp. 346 | 18 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 342 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 Henry Mills?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Richard Henry Mills to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in 1985.
- Was Richard Henry Mills appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Richard Henry Mills was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Richard Henry Mills's confirmation vote?
- Richard Henry Mills was confirmed by voice vote on July 19, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Richard Henry Mills on?
- Richard Henry Mills was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
37 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).