Robert Earl Maxwell
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Earl Maxwell was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. He earned a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1924–2010
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- West Virginia College of Law 1949
- Succeeded
- Charles Ferguson Paul
- Succeeded by
- W. Craig Broadwater
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Northern District of West Virginia succeeded Charles Ferguson Paul | L.B. Johnson (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Maxwell was assigned 1,376 district-court cases (1969–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 289 days across 1,376 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 102 of Maxwell’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 92 were affirmed, 10 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, Maxwell authored 115 published opinions for the court (1965–2009). Most cited: Sutton v. Weirton Steel Division of National Steel Corp. (52 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Sutton v. Weirton Steel Division of National Steel Corp. | 567 F. Supp. 1184 | 52 |
| 1983 | Dhayer v. Weirton Steel Division of National Steel Corp. | 571 F. Supp. 316 | 34 |
| 1993 | Martin Oil Co. v. Philadelphia Life Insurance | 827 F. Supp. 1236 | 31 |
| 1975 | Insurance Co. of North America v. National Steel Service Center, Inc. | 391 F. Supp. 512 | 22 |
| 1965 | Miller v. Boles | 248 F. Supp. 49 | 22 |
| 1996 | Norris v. Detrick | 918 F. Supp. 977 | 20 |
| 1981 | Doganieri v. United States | 520 F. Supp. 1093 | 20 |
| 1973 | Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. v. Log Cabin Club Ass'n | 365 F. Supp. 325 | 18 |
| 1972 | Kisner v. Butz | 350 F. Supp. 310 | 18 |
| 1976 | Upper W. Fork River Watershed Assoc. v. Corps of Engrs., United States Army | 414 F. Supp. 908 | 17 |
| 1992 | Fluharty v. Wood Products, Inc. (In Re Daugherty Coal Co.) | 144 B.R. 320 | 16 |
| 1983 | Mitchell v. State of W. Va. | 554 F. Supp. 1215 | 16 |
| 1998 | Heinemann v. Jim Walter Homes, Inc. | 47 F. Supp. 2d 716 | 15 |
| 1973 | United States v. Anile | 352 F. Supp. 14 | 15 |
| 1967 | Williams v. Wheeling Steel Corporation | 266 F. Supp. 651 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 115 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 Earl Maxwell?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robert Earl Maxwell to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in 1965.
- Was Robert Earl Maxwell appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Earl Maxwell 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 Earl Maxwell's confirmation vote?
- Robert Earl Maxwell was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1965. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Earl Maxwell on?
- Robert Earl Maxwell was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
45 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).