District of Kansas / Appointed 1981 / Served to 2022

Sam A. Crow

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, Sam A. Crow was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. He earned a law degree from Washburn University School of Law in 1952. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1926–2022
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan, 1981
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Kansas 1949 · Washburn Law 1952
Succeeded by
Carlos Murguia

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1981District of KansasReagan (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Crow was assigned 4,131 district-court cases (1977–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 178 days across 4,131 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas36%
Other civil matters16%
Civil rights12%
Contract8%
Personal-injury torts7%
Social Security6%
Other17%

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 197 of Crow’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 177 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Crow authored 574 published opinions for the court (1982–2011). Most cited: Voelkel v. General Motors Corp. (132 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1994Voelkel v. General Motors Corp.846 F. Supp. 1482132
1995Deghand v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.904 F. Supp. 121873
1984United States v. Redmond36 B.R. 93271
1996Mounkes v. Conklin922 F. Supp. 150169
2007Wilkins v. Kmart Corp.487 F. Supp. 2d 121665
1990Pizza Management, Inc. v. Pizza Hut, Inc.737 F. Supp. 115463
1990Ritchie Enterprises v. Honeywell Bull, Inc.730 F. Supp. 104160
1990United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Morrison Grain Co.734 F. Supp. 43758
1992Graham v. Sullivan794 F. Supp. 104557
1997McShares, Inc. v. Barry979 F. Supp. 133850
1988Chancellor v. Boeing Co.678 F. Supp. 25046
2000Pedro v. Armour Swift-Eckrich118 F. Supp. 2d 115545
2007Brennan v. Astrue501 F. Supp. 2d 130341
1996Henderson v. Holmes920 F. Supp. 118439
1995Nguyen v. IBP, Inc.905 F. Supp. 147139

Showing the 15 most-cited of 574 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 Sam A. Crow?
President Ronald Reagan appointed Sam A. Crow to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in 1981.
Was Sam A. Crow appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Sam A. Crow was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Sam A. Crow's confirmation vote?
Sam A. Crow was confirmed by voice vote on December 9, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Sam A. Crow on?
Sam A. Crow was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

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.

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