Robert Leon Jordan
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Leon Jordan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from University of Tennessee College of Law in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1934–2024
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1988
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Tennessee 1958 · University of Tennessee College of Law 1960
- Succeeded
- Robert Love Taylor
- Succeeded by
- Thomas A. Varlan
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Eastern District of Tennessee succeeded Robert Love Taylor | 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
| University of Tennessee | B.S. | 1958 |
| University of Tennessee College of Law | J.D. | 1960 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Jordan was assigned 4,338 district-court cases (1985–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 306 days across 4,335 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 224 of Jordan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 188 were affirmed, 27 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, Jordan authored 72 published opinions for the court (1989–2011). Most cited: Helton v. ACS GROUP (45 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Helton v. ACS GROUP | 964 F. Supp. 1175 | 45 |
| 1989 | Gregg v. Lawson | 732 F. Supp. 849 | 28 |
| 1989 | Claiborne v. Frito-Lay, Inc. | 718 F. Supp. 1319 | 28 |
| 1991 | Cofer v. Horsehead Research & Development Co. | 805 F. Supp. 541 | 15 |
| 1994 | Johnson v. Jackson Family Television, Inc. (In Re Media Central, Inc.) | 190 B.R. 316 | 11 |
| 2002 | Martin v. Boeing-Oak Ridge Co. | 244 F. Supp. 2d 863 | 9 |
| 1996 | Emison v. Catalano | 951 F. Supp. 714 | 9 |
| 1995 | Moffitt v. Whittle Communications, L.P. | 895 F. Supp. 961 | 9 |
| 1989 | Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Criterion Investment Corp. | 732 F. Supp. 834 | 9 |
| 1989 | Dean v. Burrows | 732 F. Supp. 816 | 9 |
| 1996 | Clark v. BP Oil Co. | 930 F. Supp. 1196 | 8 |
| 1996 | DuVoisin v. Arrington (In Re Southern Industrial Banking Corp.) | 205 B.R. 525 | 8 |
| 1991 | Trentham v. K-Mart Corp. | 806 F. Supp. 692 | 8 |
| 2009 | Johnson v. Koch Foods, Inc. | 657 F. Supp. 2d 951 | 7 |
| 2003 | Cook v. Barnhart | 246 F. Supp. 2d 908 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 72 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 Leon Jordan?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert Leon Jordan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 1988.
- Was Robert Leon Jordan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Leon Jordan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert Leon Jordan's confirmation vote?
- Robert Leon Jordan was confirmed by voice vote on October 14, 1988. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Leon Jordan on?
- Robert Leon Jordan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 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.
35 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).