Who appointed Robert Smith Vance?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Robert Smith Vance to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1977.

Was Robert Smith Vance appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Robert Smith Vance was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Robert Smith Vance's confirmation vote?

Robert Smith Vance was confirmed by voice vote on December 15, 1977. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Eleventh Circuit / Appointed 1981 / Served to 1989

Robert Smith Vance

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Smith Vance was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Alabama School of Law in 1952. He previously served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1931–1989
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1977
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Alabama 1950 · University of Alabama Law 1952
Succeeded by: Joel Fredrick Dubina

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1977	Fifth Circuit succeeded Walter Pettus Gewin	Carter (D)	Voice vote
1981	Eleventh Circuit	Reassigned	–

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 Alabama	B.S.	1950
University of Alabama School of Law	J.D.	1952
George Washington University Law School	LL.M.	1955

Judicial Record

In our data, Vance authored 1 published opinion for the court (1990). Most cited: United States v. Fleet Factors Corp. (64 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1990	United States v. Fleet Factors Corp.	901 F.2d 1550	64

Showing the 1 most-cited of 1 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 Smith Vance?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Robert Smith Vance to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1977.
Was Robert Smith Vance appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Robert Smith Vance was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Robert Smith Vance's confirmation vote?: Robert Smith Vance was confirmed by voice vote on December 15, 1977. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Robert Smith Vance on?: Robert Smith Vance was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Sources

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

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8 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).