Rudi M. Brewster
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and confirmed by voice vote, Rudi M. Brewster was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1932–2012
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1984
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Princeton 1954 · Stanford Law School 1960
- Succeeded
- Howard Boyd Turrentine
- Succeeded by
- M. James Lorenz
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Southern District of California succeeded Howard Boyd Turrentine | 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
| Princeton University | B.A. | 1954 |
| Stanford Law School | J.D. | 1960 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Brewster was assigned 4,296 district-court cases (1979–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 455 days across 4,295 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 17 of Brewster’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 13 were affirmed, 0 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Brewster authored 96 published opinions for the court (1976–2008). Most cited: Richmond v. Allstate Insurance (171 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Richmond v. Allstate Insurance | 897 F. Supp. 447 | 171 |
| 2002 | Saes Getters S.P.A. v. Aeronex, Inc. | 219 F. Supp. 2d 1081 | 86 |
| 1988 | United States v. Arnold | 678 F. Supp. 1463 | 49 |
| 1976 | United States v. Zagari | 419 F. Supp. 494 | 42 |
| 1997 | DEL ELMER ZACHAY v. Metzger | 967 F. Supp. 398 | 31 |
| 1996 | Medical Imaging Centers of America, Inc. v. Lichtenstein | 917 F. Supp. 717 | 31 |
| 1997 | Powers v. Eichen | 977 F. Supp. 1031 | 27 |
| 1997 | Barry v. Ratelle | 985 F. Supp. 1235 | 25 |
| 1999 | Cornwell v. Hamilton | 80 F. Supp. 2d 1101 | 23 |
| 2002 | Cox Communications PCS, L.P. v. City of San Marcos | 204 F. Supp. 2d 1272 | 21 |
| 1998 | Gutierrez v. Givens | 1 F. Supp. 2d 1077 | 20 |
| 1998 | Surfrider Foundation v. Dalton | 989 F. Supp. 1309 | 20 |
| 1997 | Vargas v. Reno | 966 F. Supp. 1537 | 20 |
| 1996 | Taormina v. California Department of Corrections | 946 F. Supp. 829 | 19 |
| 2000 | Airtouch Cellular v. City of El Cajon | 83 F. Supp. 2d 1158 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 96 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 Rudi M. Brewster?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Rudi M. Brewster to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1984.
- Was Rudi M. Brewster appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Rudi M. Brewster was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Rudi M. Brewster's confirmation vote?
- Rudi M. Brewster was confirmed by voice vote on June 15, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Rudi M. Brewster on?
- Rudi M. Brewster 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.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
28 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).