Who appointed Roger T. Benitez?

President George W. Bush appointed Roger T. Benitez to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2004.

Was Roger T. Benitez appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Roger T. Benitez was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Roger T. Benitez's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Roger T. Benitez 98–1 on June 17, 2004.

Southern District of California / Appointed 2004 / Served to 2026

Roger T. Benitez

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

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004 and confirmed by the Senate 98–1, Roger T. Benitez was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from Western State University College of Law (now Thomas Jefferson School of Law) in 1978. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1950 · age 76
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2004
Confirmed: 98–1
Education: San Diego State 1974 · Western State College of Law (now Thomas Jefferson Law) 1978
Succeeded by: Linda Lopez

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2004	Southern District of California	G.W. Bush (R)	98–1

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 98–1 on June 17, 2004 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 127. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 98

46 D, 51 R, 1 I

Voted against · 1

1 D

Richard Durbin(D-IL)

Did not vote · 1

1 D

John Kerry(D-MA)

Education

Imperial Valley College	A.A.	1971
San Diego State University	B.A.	1974
Western State University College of Law (now Thomas Jefferson School of Law)	J.D.	1978

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Benitez was assigned 2,887 district-court cases (1991–2025). Median time from filing to termination: 180 days across 2,650 closed cases.

Other civil matters20%

Other federal statutes16%

Civil rights13%

Prisoner & habeas12%

Contract9%

Intellectual property7%

Other23%

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 265 of Benitez’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 186 were affirmed, 56 reversed or vacated, and 23 affirmed in part and reversed in part. 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, Benitez authored 19 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: Abney v. Alameida (98 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
2004	Abney v. Alameida	334 F. Supp. 2d 1221	98
2004	Nichols v. Logan	355 F. Supp. 2d 1155	30
2007	Quisenberry v. Compass Vision, Inc.	618 F. Supp. 2d 1223	12
2006	Hurd v. Garcia	454 F. Supp. 2d 1032	11
2010	North County Communications Corp. v. Verizon Global Networks, Inc.	685 F. Supp. 2d 1112	9
2006	Otay Land Co. v. U.E. Ltd., L.P.	440 F. Supp. 2d 1152	9
2005	Polanski v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	378 F. Supp. 2d 1222	6
2007	Wilson v. Kayo Oil Co.	535 F. Supp. 2d 1063	5
2008	Yates v. Allied International Credit Corp.	578 F. Supp. 2d 1251	4
2005	Wade v. Ratella	407 F. Supp. 2d 1196	4
2006	United States v. Reyes-Bosque	463 F. Supp. 2d 1138	3
2011	Gates v. ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC	801 F. Supp. 2d 1044	2
2010	MEDWAY v. Cate	756 F. Supp. 2d 1280	1
2010	Weakley v. Redline Recovery Services, LLC	723 F. Supp. 2d 1341	1
2009	Renteria v. Skelton	420 B.R. 526	1

Showing the 15 most-cited of 19 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 Roger T. Benitez?: President George W. Bush appointed Roger T. Benitez to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2004.
Was Roger T. Benitez appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Roger T. Benitez was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Roger T. Benitez's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Roger T. Benitez 98–1 on June 17, 2004.
Which court was Roger T. Benitez on?: Roger T. Benitez was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern 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.

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