Robert Hardy Cleland
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Hardy Cleland is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from University of North Carolina School of Law in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1947 · age 79
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1990
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Michigan State 1969 · University of North Carolina Law 1972
- Succeeded
- James Paul Churchill
- Succeeded by
- Linda Vivienne Parker
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Eastern District of Michigan succeeded James Paul Churchill | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Cleland was assigned 6,898 district-court cases (1979–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 194 days across 6,869 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 230 of Cleland’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 205 were affirmed, 16 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Cleland authored 111 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Aldrich v. Bock (423 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Aldrich v. Bock | 327 F. Supp. 2d 743 | 423 |
| 2004 | Vandiver v. Martin | 304 F. Supp. 2d 934 | 250 |
| 2006 | Ford Motor Co. v. Cross | 441 F. Supp. 2d 837 | 208 |
| 1999 | Welch v. Burke | 49 F. Supp. 2d 992 | 88 |
| 1993 | Healey v. Massachusetts Higher Education (In Re Healey) | 161 B.R. 389 | 60 |
| 1994 | Padilla v. City of Saginaw | 867 F. Supp. 1309 | 47 |
| 2001 | Westside Mothers v. Haveman | 133 F. Supp. 2d 549 | 30 |
| 2008 | Ware v. Harry | 636 F. Supp. 2d 574 | 29 |
| 2002 | Hastings v. Yukins | 194 F. Supp. 2d 659 | 28 |
| 2000 | Winfield Collection, Ltd. v. McCauley | 105 F. Supp. 2d 746 | 25 |
| 1995 | Robertson v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 890 F. Supp. 671 | 18 |
| 2000 | Fannon v. Johnston | 88 F. Supp. 2d 753 | 16 |
| 2004 | Johnson v. City of Detroit | 319 F. Supp. 2d 756 | 15 |
| 1994 | Fisher v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 854 F. Supp. 467 | 15 |
| 2010 | Giasson Aerospace Science, Inc. v. RCO Engineering, Inc. | 680 F. Supp. 2d 830 | 14 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 111 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 Robert Hardy Cleland?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Robert Hardy Cleland to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1990.
- Was Robert Hardy Cleland appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Hardy Cleland 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 Robert Hardy Cleland's confirmation vote?
- Robert Hardy Cleland was confirmed by voice vote on June 18, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Robert Hardy Cleland on?
- Robert Hardy Cleland is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (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.
36 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).