Who appointed Robert Daniel Potter?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert Daniel Potter to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 1981.

Was Robert Daniel Potter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Robert Daniel Potter was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Robert Daniel Potter's confirmation vote?

Robert Daniel Potter was confirmed by voice vote on October 29, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Western District of North Carolina / Appointed 1981 / Served to 2009

Robert Daniel Potter

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Daniel Potter was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1950. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1923–2009
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1981
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Duke 1947 · Duke Law 1950
Succeeded by: Lacy Herman Thornburg

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1981	Western District of North Carolina	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

Duke University	A.B.	1947
Duke University School of Law	LL.B.	1950

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Potter was assigned 1,403 district-court cases (1965–2000). Median time from filing to termination: 281 days across 1,402 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas25%

Contract18%

Civil rights15%

Social Security8%

Personal-injury torts7%

Bankruptcy7%

Other20%

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 14 of Potter’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 13 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, Potter authored 251 published opinions for the court (1982–2000). Most cited: Datasouth Computer Corp. v. Three Dimensional Technologies, Inc. (63 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
1989	Datasouth Computer Corp. v. Three Dimensional Technologies, Inc.	719 F. Supp. 446	63
1992	Pope v. Blue	809 F. Supp. 392	28
1990	Jim Crockett Promotions, Inc. v. Action Media Group, Inc.	751 F. Supp. 93	27
1984	Western Steer—Mom 'N' Pop's, Inc. v. FMT Investments, Inc.	578 F. Supp. 260	25
1990	Commercial Equipment Co. v. Barclay Furniture Co.	738 F. Supp. 974	24
1989	Farmers Home Administration v. Rape (In Re Rape)	104 B.R. 741	23
1986	Tryco Trucking Co. v. Belk Stores Services, Inc.	634 F. Supp. 1327	23
1994	Cooper v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. (In Re Bulldog Trucking, Inc.)	173 B.R. 517	22
1991	General Latex & Chemical Corp. v. Phoenix Medical Technology, Inc.	765 F. Supp. 1246	22
1987	Beckham v. Grand Affair of North Carolina, Inc.	671 F. Supp. 415	22
1987	Radiator Specialty Co. v. First State Insurance	651 F. Supp. 439	21
1995	FMC Corp. v. Cyprus Foote Mineral Co.	899 F. Supp. 1477	20
1986	Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Kerr	637 F. Supp. 828	20
1990	McDevitt & Street Co. v. Fidelity and Deposit Co.	737 F. Supp. 351	19
1986	Phillips v. S. Gumpert Co., Inc.	627 F. Supp. 725	19

Showing the 15 most-cited of 251 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 Daniel Potter?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert Daniel Potter to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 1981.
Was Robert Daniel Potter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Robert Daniel Potter was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Robert Daniel Potter's confirmation vote?: Robert Daniel Potter was confirmed by voice vote on October 29, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Robert Daniel Potter on?: Robert Daniel Potter was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

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.

27 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).