Robert L. Echols
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert L. Echols was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from University of Tennessee College of Law in 1964. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1941–2025
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College) 1962 · University of Tennessee College of Law 1964
- Succeeded by
- Kevin Hunter Sharp
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Middle District of Tennessee | 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, Echols was assigned 4,882 district-court cases (1975–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 195 days across 4,882 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 127 of Echols’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 102 were affirmed, 20 reversed or vacated, and 5 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, Echols authored 66 published opinions for the court (1992–2010). Most cited: United States Ex Rel. Pogue v. American Healthcorp, Inc. (35 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | United States Ex Rel. Pogue v. American Healthcorp, Inc. | 914 F. Supp. 1507 | 35 |
| 1995 | Lineberry v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 885 F. Supp. 1095 | 22 |
| 1995 | McKennon v. CSX Transportation, Inc. | 897 F. Supp. 1024 | 20 |
| 1993 | Shelby v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. | 842 F. Supp. 999 | 20 |
| 1994 | Edwards v. Whitaker | 868 F. Supp. 226 | 19 |
| 2009 | Lopez v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville | 646 F. Supp. 2d 891 | 17 |
| 1997 | US Ex Rel. Pogue v. American Healthcorp., Inc. | 977 F. Supp. 1329 | 17 |
| 1998 | Haines v. Metropolitan Government of Davidson County | 32 F. Supp. 2d 991 | 13 |
| 1997 | Bryant-Bruce v. Vanderbilt University, Inc. | 974 F. Supp. 1127 | 13 |
| 1993 | Deiters v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. | 842 F. Supp. 1023 | 12 |
| 1996 | Blane v. American Inventors Corp. | 934 F. Supp. 903 | 11 |
| 2007 | Phoenix Restaurant Group, Inc. v. Proficient Food Co. (In Re Phoenix Restaurant Group, Inc.) | 373 B.R. 541 | 10 |
| 2005 | United States v. Mathis | 377 F. Supp. 2d 640 | 10 |
| 2000 | Internal Revenue Service v. Hildebrand | 245 B.R. 287 | 10 |
| 2003 | Southern Electrical Health Fund v. Kelley | 308 F. Supp. 2d 847 | 9 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 66 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 L. Echols?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Robert L. Echols to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in 1992.
- Was Robert L. Echols appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert L. Echols 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 L. Echols's confirmation vote?
- Robert L. Echols was confirmed by voice vote on March 13, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert L. Echols on?
- Robert L. Echols was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
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.
18 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).