Who appointed Richard Fred Suhrheinrich?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard Fred Suhrheinrich to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1990.

Was Richard Fred Suhrheinrich appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

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

What was Richard Fred Suhrheinrich's confirmation vote?

Richard Fred Suhrheinrich was confirmed by voice vote on June 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Sixth Circuit / Appointed 1990 / Senior status since 2001

Richard Fred Suhrheinrich

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

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Fred Suhrheinrich is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned a law degree from Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) in 1963. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1936 · age 90
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1990
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Wayne State 1960 · Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State College of Law) 1963
Succeeded: Albert Joseph Engel
Succeeded by: David William McKeague

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1984	Eastern District of Michigan succeeded James Harvey	Reagan (R)	Voice vote
1990	Sixth Circuit succeeded Albert Joseph Engel	G.H.W. Bush (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

Wayne State University	B.S.	1960
Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law)	J.D.	1963
University of Virginia School of Law	LL.M.	1990

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Suhrheinrich was assigned 630 district-court cases (1980–1990). Median time from filing to termination: 168 days across 630 closed cases.

Contract27%

Prisoner & habeas17%

Personal-injury torts14%

Labor & ERISA13%

Civil rights8%

Social Security7%

Other15%

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, Suhrheinrich authored 26 published opinions for the court (1985–1990). Most cited: Fitzgerald v. Mallinckrodt, Inc. (38 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
1987	Fitzgerald v. Mallinckrodt, Inc.	681 F. Supp. 404	38
1990	Kovacs v. Electronic Data Systems Corp.	762 F. Supp. 161	10
1987	Taylor v. Watters	655 F. Supp. 801	9
1986	Grant-Southern Iron & Metal Co. v. CNA Insurance	669 F. Supp. 798	9
1986	Stand Buys, Ltd. v. Michigan Bell Telephone Co.	646 F. Supp. 36	8
1985	Smith v. Yono	613 F. Supp. 50	8
1988	Brock v. International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, & Agricultural Implement Workers	682 F. Supp. 1415	7
1987	Michigan State Podiatry Ass'n v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan	681 F. Supp. 1239	7
1986	Moore v. Secretary of Health and Human Services	651 F. Supp. 514	7
1986	County of Oakland Ex Rel. Kuhn v. City of Detroit	628 F. Supp. 610	7
1987	Michigan State Podiatry Ass'n v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield	671 F. Supp. 1139	5
1986	Morris v. Detroit Edison (In Re Morris)	66 B.R. 28	5
1986	Samczyk v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.	643 F. Supp. 79	4
1985	United States v. One 1983 Pontiac Gran Prix Vin: 2G2AJ37H802244633	604 F. Supp. 893	4
1988	United States v. One 1985 Ford F-250 Pickup	702 F. Supp. 1304	3

Showing the 15 most-cited of 26 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 Fred Suhrheinrich?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard Fred Suhrheinrich to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1990.
Was Richard Fred Suhrheinrich appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Richard Fred Suhrheinrich was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Richard Fred Suhrheinrich's confirmation vote?: Richard Fred Suhrheinrich was confirmed by voice vote on June 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Richard Fred Suhrheinrich on?: Richard Fred Suhrheinrich is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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