Ronald B. Leighton
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by voice vote, Ronald B. Leighton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. He earned a law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2002
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Whitworth College 1973 · University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) 1976
- Succeeded
- Robert Jensen Bryan
- Succeeded by
- David Estudillo
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Western District of Washington succeeded Robert Jensen Bryan | G.W. Bush (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
| Whitworth College | B.A. | 1973 |
| University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Leighton was assigned 2,465 district-court cases (1998–2020). Median time from filing to termination: 223 days across 2,463 closed cases.
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 387 of Leighton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 313 were affirmed, 40 reversed or vacated, and 34 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, Leighton authored 27 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky (12 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky | 524 F. Supp. 2d 1245 | 12 |
| 2003 | Anderson v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. | 259 F. Supp. 2d 1143 | 11 |
| 2005 | Silver Valley Partners, LLC v. De Motte | 400 F. Supp. 2d 1262 | 8 |
| 2011 | Lensch v. Armada Corp. | 795 F. Supp. 2d 1180 | 7 |
| 2006 | Witt v. United States Department of the Air Force | 444 F. Supp. 2d 1138 | 6 |
| 2011 | PANAGACOS v. Towery | 782 F. Supp. 2d 1183 | 4 |
| 2010 | Monahan v. EMERALD PERFORMANCE MATERIALS, LLC | 705 F. Supp. 2d 1206 | 4 |
| 2004 | United States v. Stephenson | 313 F. Supp. 2d 1054 | 4 |
| 2008 | Kingsberry v. Chicago Title Insurance | 586 F. Supp. 2d 1242 | 3 |
| 2007 | Hedenburg v. Aramark American Food Services, Inc. | 476 F. Supp. 2d 1199 | 3 |
| 2007 | Tapps Brewing Inc. v. City of Sumner | 482 F. Supp. 2d 1218 | 3 |
| 2010 | Witt v. United States Department of the Air Force | 739 F. Supp. 2d 1308 | 2 |
| 2010 | International Rehabilitative Sciences, Inc. v. Sebelius | 737 F. Supp. 2d 1281 | 2 |
| 2008 | Olympic Forest Coalition v. United States Forest Service | 556 F. Supp. 2d 1198 | 2 |
| 2006 | Providence Health System-Washington v. Bush | 461 F. Supp. 2d 1226 | 2 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 27 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 Ronald B. Leighton?
- President George W. Bush appointed Ronald B. Leighton to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 2002.
- Was Ronald B. Leighton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Ronald B. Leighton was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Ronald B. Leighton's confirmation vote?
- Ronald B. Leighton was confirmed by voice vote on November 14, 2002. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Ronald B. Leighton on?
- Ronald B. Leighton was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
17 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).