Who appointed Ronald S. W. Lew?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Ronald S. W. Lew to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1987.

Was Ronald S. W. Lew appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Ronald S. W. Lew was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Ronald S. W. Lew's confirmation vote?

Ronald S. W. Lew was confirmed by voice vote on May 7, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Central District of California / Appointed 1987 / Served to 2023

Ronald S. W. Lew

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

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by voice vote, Ronald S. W. Lew was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1941–2023
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1987
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Loyola of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University) 1964 · Southwestern Law 1971
Succeeded: Laughlin Edward Waters Sr.
Succeeded by: George H. Wu

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1987	Central District of California succeeded Laughlin Edward Waters Sr.	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

Loyola University of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University)	B.A.	1964
Southwestern University School of Law	J.D.	1971

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Lew was assigned 7,096 district-court cases (1985–2023). Median time from filing to termination: 196 days across 7,094 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas18%

Contract14%

Civil rights14%

Intellectual property11%

Labor & ERISA10%

Other federal statutes9%

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 155 of Lew’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 110 were affirmed, 34 reversed or vacated, and 11 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, Lew authored 58 published opinions for the court (1987–2011). Most cited: L'Garde, Inc. v. Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems (50 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
2011	L'Garde, Inc. v. Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems	805 F. Supp. 2d 932	50
1994	In Re ZZZZ Best Securities Litigation	864 F. Supp. 960	41
2009	Florence v. Stanback	607 F. Supp. 2d 1119	31
1998	Robinson v. California Board of Prison Terms	997 F. Supp. 1303	25
2011	Hokto Kinoko Co. v. Concord Farms, Inc.	810 F. Supp. 2d 1013	22
2010	Rollins v. Superior Court of Los Angeles	706 F. Supp. 2d 1008	20
1990	Washington International Insurance v. Mellone	773 F. Supp. 189	18
1989	State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Westchester Investment Co.	721 F. Supp. 1165	17
1987	Staiman v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.	673 F. Supp. 1009	17
2003	Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Weinberg	287 F. Supp. 2d 1100	14
1991	In Re All Terrain Vehicle Litigation	771 F. Supp. 1057	14
2000	Doe I v. Unocal Corp.	110 F. Supp. 2d 1294	13
2004	Rosen v. Neilson (In Re Slatkin)	310 B.R. 740	12
2008	MacIel v. City of Los Angeles	569 F. Supp. 2d 1038	11
1989	Home Indemnity Co. v. Avol	706 F. Supp. 728	11

Showing the 15 most-cited of 58 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 S. W. Lew?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Ronald S. W. Lew to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1987.
Was Ronald S. W. Lew appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Ronald S. W. Lew was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Ronald S. W. Lew's confirmation vote?: Ronald S. W. Lew was confirmed by voice vote on May 7, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Ronald S. W. Lew on?: Ronald S. W. Lew was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central 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.

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