Robert Ernest Keeton
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Ernest Keeton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1941. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1919–2007
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Texas 1940 · University of Texas Law 1941
- Succeeded by
- F. Dennis Saylor IV
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | District of Massachusetts | Carter (D) | 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 Texas | B.B.A. | 1940 |
| University of Texas School of Law | LL.B. | 1941 |
| Harvard Law School | S.J.D. | 1956 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Keeton was assigned 3,971 district-court cases (1973–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 353 days across 3,970 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 11 of Keeton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 10 were affirmed, 1 reversed or vacated. 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, Keeton authored 292 published opinions for the court (1979–2006). Most cited: Schiller v. Strangis (62 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Schiller v. Strangis | 540 F. Supp. 605 | 62 |
| 2001 | Overton v. Torruella | 183 F. Supp. 2d 295 | 57 |
| 1983 | Computer Systems Engineering, Inc. v. Qantel Corp. | 571 F. Supp. 1365 | 57 |
| 1996 | Armstrong v. Lamy | 938 F. Supp. 1018 | 51 |
| 1990 | Lotus Development Corp. v. Paperback Software International | 740 F. Supp. 37 | 45 |
| 1990 | United States v. Phillips | 732 F. Supp. 255 | 42 |
| 1983 | Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc. | 557 F. Supp. 230 | 42 |
| 1989 | Stratton v. City of Boston | 731 F. Supp. 42 | 39 |
| 1984 | Shapiro v. American Home Assurance Co. | 584 F. Supp. 1245 | 37 |
| 1994 | Feliciano v. DuBois | 846 F. Supp. 1033 | 35 |
| 1980 | McKinney v. National Dairy Council | 491 F. Supp. 1108 | 34 |
| 1982 | United California Bank v. Eastern Mountain Sports, Inc. | 546 F. Supp. 945 | 30 |
| 2004 | In Re New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. Sales Practices Litigation | 324 F. Supp. 2d 288 | 29 |
| 1992 | American Home Assurance Co. v. Sport Maska, Inc. | 808 F. Supp. 67 | 29 |
| 1991 | Cash Energy, Inc. v. Weiner | 768 F. Supp. 892 | 29 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 292 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 Ernest Keeton?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Robert Ernest Keeton to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1979.
- Was Robert Ernest Keeton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Ernest Keeton was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert Ernest Keeton's confirmation vote?
- Robert Ernest Keeton was confirmed by voice vote on March 21, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Ernest Keeton on?
- Robert Ernest Keeton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (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.
27 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).