Who appointed Robert Leon Wilkins?

President Barack Obama appointed Robert Leon Wilkins to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2014.

Was Robert Leon Wilkins appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Robert Leon Wilkins was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Robert Leon Wilkins's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Robert Leon Wilkins 55–43 on January 13, 2014.

District of Columbia Circuit / Appointed 2014 / Active

Robert Leon Wilkins

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014 and confirmed by the Senate 55–43, Robert Leon Wilkins is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1989. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1963 · age 63
Appointed by: Barack Obama, 2014
Confirmed: 55–43
Education: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 1986 · Harvard Law School 1989
Succeeded: David Bryan Sentelle

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2010	District of Columbia succeeded James Robertson	Obama (D)	Voice vote
2014	District of Columbia Circuit succeeded David Bryan Sentelle	Obama (D)	55–43

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

Nomination Confirmed 55–43 on January 13, 2014 · 113th Congress, Roll Call 7. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 55

53 D, 2 I

Voted against · 43

43 R

Did not vote · 2

2 R

Saxby Chambliss(R-GA)
Marco Rubio(R-FL)

Education

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	B.S.	1986
Harvard Law School	J.D.	1989

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Wilkins was assigned 243 district-court cases (2009–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 246 days across 241 closed cases.

Other federal statutes28%

Civil rights18%

Labor & ERISA10%

Personal-injury torts9%

Intellectual property8%

Contract7%

Other19%

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 17 of Wilkins’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 17 were affirmed, 0 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, Wilkins authored 138 published opinions for the court (2011–2015). Most cited: Nu Image, Inc. v. Does 1-23,322 (68 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
2011	Nu Image, Inc. v. Does 1-23,322	799 F. Supp. 2d 34	68
2012	Finca Santa Elena, Inc. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers	873 F. Supp. 2d 363	44
2012	3m Company v. Boulter	842 F. Supp. 2d 85	37
2012	Daniels v. District of Columbia	894 F. Supp. 2d 61	21
2012	Wesby v. District of Columbia	841 F. Supp. 2d 20	21
2011	Tressler v. National Passenger Railroad Corp.	819 F. Supp. 2d 1	20
2011	Pugh v. Federal Bureau of Investigation	793 F. Supp. 2d 226	13
2012	Gold v. Gensler	840 F. Supp. 2d 58	12
2011	Kaufman v. Internal Revenue Service	787 F. Supp. 2d 27	12
2012	Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (Naca) v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development	907 F. Supp. 2d 112	11
2011	Pai v. United States Citizenship & Immigration Services	810 F. Supp. 2d 102	11
2012	Grossmont Hospital Corporation v. Sebelius	903 F. Supp. 2d 39	10
2012	Hardy v. Government of the District of Columbia	283 F.R.D. 20	10
2012	Ford v. Mitchell	890 F. Supp. 2d 24	9
2012	Securities and Exchange Commission v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation	872 F. Supp. 2d 1	8

Showing the 15 most-cited of 138 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 Leon Wilkins?: President Barack Obama appointed Robert Leon Wilkins to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2014.
Was Robert Leon Wilkins appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Robert Leon Wilkins was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Robert Leon Wilkins's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Robert Leon Wilkins 55–43 on January 13, 2014.
Which court is Robert Leon Wilkins on?: Robert Leon Wilkins is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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.

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