Robert Witherspoon Hemphill
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Witherspoon Hemphill was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. He earned a law degree from University of South Carolina School of Law in 1938. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina and U.S. District Court for the Western District of South Carolina. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1915–1983
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of South Carolina 1936 · University of South Carolina Law 1938
- Succeeded by
- William Walter Wilkins
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Eastern District of South Carolina succeeded George Bell Timmerman Sr. | L.B. Johnson (D) | Voice vote |
| 1964 | Western District of South Carolina succeeded George Bell Timmerman Sr. | L.B. Johnson (D) | Voice vote |
| 1965 | District of South Carolina | Reassigned | – |
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
In our data, Hemphill authored 228 published opinions for the court (1964–1983). Most cited: Duplan Corporation v. Deering Milliken, Inc. (231 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Duplan Corporation v. Deering Milliken, Inc. | 397 F. Supp. 1146 | 231 |
| 1979 | Campus Sweater & Sportswear Co. v. M. B. Kahn Construction Co. | 515 F. Supp. 64 | 66 |
| 1967 | Hammond v. South Carolina State College | 272 F. Supp. 947 | 49 |
| 1974 | Delay v. Hearn Ford | 373 F. Supp. 791 | 45 |
| 1974 | Bob Jones University v. Johnson | 396 F. Supp. 597 | 41 |
| 1970 | Sowell v. Richardson | 319 F. Supp. 689 | 33 |
| 1968 | Steeves v. United States | 294 F. Supp. 446 | 33 |
| 1966 | Vance Trucking Company v. Canal Insurance Company | 249 F. Supp. 33 | 29 |
| 1977 | Barnes v. Converse College | 436 F. Supp. 635 | 28 |
| 1965 | Szantay v. Beech Aircraft Corporation | 237 F. Supp. 393 | 28 |
| 1979 | Carson v. Southern Railway Co. | 494 F. Supp. 1104 | 26 |
| 1976 | Harper v. United States | 423 F. Supp. 192 | 26 |
| 1976 | Gattis v. Chavez | 413 F. Supp. 33 | 25 |
| 1975 | Watson v. Southern Railway Co. | 420 F. Supp. 483 | 25 |
| 1978 | Kelly v. Richland School District 2 | 463 F. Supp. 216 | 24 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 228 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 Witherspoon Hemphill?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robert Witherspoon Hemphill to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina in 1964.
- Was Robert Witherspoon Hemphill appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Witherspoon Hemphill was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert Witherspoon Hemphill's confirmation vote?
- Robert Witherspoon Hemphill was confirmed by voice vote on April 30, 1964. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Witherspoon Hemphill on?
- Robert Witherspoon Hemphill was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Photo scanned by South Carolina Political Collections at the University of South Carolina (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
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18 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).