Ronald Edward Meredith
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, Ronald Edward Meredith was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1946–1994
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Chief judge
- Western District of Kentucky, 1991 to 1994
- Education
- Georgetown College, Kentucky 1967 · George Washington Law School 1971
- Succeeded by
- Joseph H. McKinley Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Western District of Kentucky chief judge 1991 to 1994 | 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
Before the bench
Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.
| Minority counsel, Subcommittee on Penitentiaries, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary | 1971-1972 |
| Legislative assistant, U.S. Sen. Marlow W. Cook of Kentucky | 1972-1975 |
| Private practice, Elizabethtown, Kentucky | 1975-1981 |
| Chairman for second congressional district, Republican Party of Kentucky | 1976-1980 |
| Chairman, Republican Party of Kentucky | 1979 |
| U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky | 1981-1985 |
| Trustee, Georgetown College, Kentucky | 1983-1994 |
| Trustee, Grace Evangelistic Association, Incorporated | 1978-1994 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Meredith was assigned 420 district-court cases (1981–1994). Median time from filing to termination: 217 days across 420 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.
In our data, Meredith authored 19 published opinions for the court (1985–1993). Most cited: Smallwood v. Jefferson County Government (135 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Smallwood v. Jefferson County Government | 743 F. Supp. 502 | 135 |
| 1987 | Liberty National Bank & Trust Co. of Louisville v. George | 70 B.R. 312 | 20 |
| 1988 | Jeffers v. Heavrin | 701 F. Supp. 1316 | 10 |
| 1990 | Envy Ltd. v. City of Louisville | 734 F. Supp. 785 | 8 |
| 1988 | United States v. Webb | 689 F. Supp. 703 | 8 |
| 1988 | Katchak v. Glasgow Independent School System | 690 F. Supp. 580 | 8 |
| 1986 | Burden v. Evansville Materials, Inc. | 636 F. Supp. 1022 | 7 |
| 1986 | Commercial Credit Corp. v. Brooks (In Re Brooks) | 71 B.R. 6 | 5 |
| 1987 | Harvey v. I.T.W., Inc. | 672 F. Supp. 973 | 4 |
| 1991 | Smallwood v. Jefferson County Government | 753 F. Supp. 657 | 3 |
| 1989 | Kentucky Agricultural Energy Corp. v. Bowling Green Municipal Utilities Board | 735 F. Supp. 226 | 3 |
| 1986 | Capps v. Herman Schwabe, Inc. | 628 F. Supp. 1353 | 3 |
| 1990 | United States v. Jenkins | 758 F. Supp. 1194 | 2 |
| 1985 | Brock v. Kentucky Ridge Min. Co., Inc. | 635 F. Supp. 444 | 2 |
| 1993 | J.P. Morgan Delaware v. Onyx Arabians II, Ltd. | 825 F. Supp. 146 | 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 Ronald Edward Meredith?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Ronald Edward Meredith to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in 1985.
- Was Ronald Edward Meredith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Ronald Edward Meredith was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Ronald Edward Meredith's confirmation vote?
- Ronald Edward Meredith was confirmed by voice vote on April 3, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Ronald Edward Meredith on?
- Ronald Edward Meredith was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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.
9 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Data as of 2026-09-28. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).