Who appointed Robert Francis Peckham?

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robert Francis Peckham to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1966.

Was Robert Francis Peckham appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Robert Francis Peckham 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 Francis Peckham's confirmation vote?

Robert Francis Peckham was confirmed by voice vote on October 20, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of California / Appointed 1966 / Served to 1993

Robert Francis Peckham

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Francis Peckham was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1945. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1920–1993
Appointed by: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966
Confirmed: by voice vote
Chief judge: Northern District of California, 1976 to 1988
Education: Stanford 1941 · Stanford Law School 1945
Succeeded by: James Ware

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1966	Northern District of California chief judge 1976 to 1988	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

Yale University
Stanford University	A.B.	1941
Stanford Law School	LL.B.	1945

Before the bench

Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.

Private practice, Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, California	1946-1948, 1953-1959
Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of California, 1948-1953; chief assistant, Criminal Division	1952-1953
Judge, Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, 1959-1966; presiding judge	1961-1963, 1965-1966
Member, Judicial Conference of the United States	1987-1990

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Peckham was assigned 445 district-court cases (1981–1993). Median time from filing to termination: 230 days across 445 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas27%

Labor & ERISA18%

Contract14%

Civil rights13%

Other federal statutes7%

Personal-injury torts4%

Other16%

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.

In our data, Peckham authored 175 published opinions for the court (1967–1993). Most cited: LeDuc v. Kentucky Central Life Insurance (108 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
1992	LeDuc v. Kentucky Central Life Insurance	814 F. Supp. 820	108
1991	American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh	760 F. Supp. 796	102
1979	Boxall v. Sequoia Union High School District	464 F. Supp. 1104	87
1991	Alfus v. Pyramid Technology Corp.	764 F. Supp. 598	61
1970	Mindel v. United States Civil Service Commission	312 F. Supp. 485	55
1990	Alfus v. Pyramid Technology Corp.	745 F. Supp. 1511	47
1971	La Raza Unida v. Volpe	337 F. Supp. 221	45
1988	Federal Sav. and Loan Ins. Corp. v. Musacchio	695 F. Supp. 1053	44
1982	In Re Related Asbestos Cases	23 B.R. 523	40
1981	Dunaway v. Webster	519 F. Supp. 1059	40
1978	Hall v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission	456 F. Supp. 695	39
1984	In Re Diasonics Securities Litigation	599 F. Supp. 447	34
1983	Wright v. Schock	571 F. Supp. 642	34
1981	Cement Masons Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Kirkwood-Bly, Inc.	520 F. Supp. 942	34
1983	Metropolitan Life Insurance v. McShan	577 F. Supp. 165	33

Showing the 15 most-cited of 175 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 Francis Peckham?: President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robert Francis Peckham to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1966.
Was Robert Francis Peckham appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Robert Francis Peckham 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 Francis Peckham's confirmation vote?: Robert Francis Peckham was confirmed by voice vote on October 20, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Robert Francis Peckham on?: Robert Francis Peckham was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

26 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Data as of 2026-09-28. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).