Who appointed Ronald M. Whyte?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Ronald M. Whyte to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1992.

Was Ronald M. Whyte appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Ronald M. Whyte was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Ronald M. Whyte's confirmation vote?

Ronald M. Whyte was confirmed by voice vote on February 6, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of California / Appointed 1992 / Served to 2023

Ronald M. Whyte

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

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Ronald M. Whyte was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 1967. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1942–2023
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1992
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Wesleyan 1964 · University of Southern California Gould Law 1967
Succeeded by: Lucy Haeran Koh

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1992	Northern District of California	G.H.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

Wesleyan University	A.B.	1964
University of Southern California Gould School of Law	J.D.	1967

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Whyte was assigned 5,272 district-court cases (1971–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 286 days across 5,271 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas25%

Civil rights14%

Contract13%

Other federal statutes10%

Intellectual property9%

Labor & ERISA7%

Other22%

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 157 of Whyte’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 125 were affirmed, 25 reversed or vacated, and 7 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, Whyte authored 107 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc. (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
1995	Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc.	907 F. Supp. 1361	135
2000	In Re McKesson HBOC, Inc. Securities Litigation	126 F. Supp. 2d 1248	118
1998	Wenger v. Lumisys, Inc.	2 F. Supp. 2d 1231	66
2000	eBay, Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc.	100 F. Supp. 2d 1058	56
1995	Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc.	923 F. Supp. 1231	52
1999	Aronson v. McKesson HBOC, Inc.	79 F. Supp. 2d 1146	44
2008	Thorpe v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc.	534 F. Supp. 2d 1120	42
1994	Raychem Corp. v. Federal Insurance	853 F. Supp. 1170	31
2006	Anthony v. Yahoo! Inc.	421 F. Supp. 2d 1257	29
2006	Hynix Semiconductor Inc. v. Rambus Inc.	591 F. Supp. 2d 1038	26
2011	In Re Apple & AT & T Ipad Unlimited Data Plan Litigation	802 F. Supp. 2d 1070	25
2007	In Re Leapfrog Enterprises, Inc. Securities Litigation	527 F. Supp. 2d 1033	24
2002	United States v. Elcom Ltd.	203 F. Supp. 2d 1111	23
2008	Securities & Exchange Commission v. Berry	580 F. Supp. 2d 911	21
2008	Brazil v. Dell Inc.	585 F. Supp. 2d 1158	20

Showing the 15 most-cited of 107 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 M. Whyte?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Ronald M. Whyte to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1992.
Was Ronald M. Whyte appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Ronald M. Whyte was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Ronald M. Whyte's confirmation vote?: Ronald M. Whyte was confirmed by voice vote on February 6, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Ronald M. Whyte on?: Ronald M. Whyte was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern 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.

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