Sam Sparks
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, Sam Sparks was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1963. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1939–2025
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1991
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Texas 1961 · University of Texas Law 1963
- Succeeded by
- Jason Kenneth Pulliam
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Western District of Texas | 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
| University of Texas | B.A. | 1961 |
| University of Texas School of Law | LL.B. | 1963 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Sparks was assigned 9,162 district-court cases (1989–2020). Median time from filing to termination: 175 days across 9,157 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 850 of Sparks’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 723 were affirmed, 72 reversed or vacated, and 55 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, Sparks authored 79 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Texas v. American Blastfax, Inc. (65 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Texas v. American Blastfax, Inc. | 164 F. Supp. 2d 892 | 65 |
| 2000 | Texas v. American Blastfax, Inc. | 121 F. Supp. 2d 1085 | 42 |
| 1997 | At&T Communications of the Southwest, Inc. v. City of Austin, Tex. | 975 F. Supp. 928 | 34 |
| 1993 | Armstrong v. Sullivan | 814 F. Supp. 1364 | 24 |
| 2008 | In Re Dell Inc., Securities Litigation | 591 F. Supp. 2d 877 | 23 |
| 1992 | Stokes v. Ferris | 150 B.R. 388 | 23 |
| 2007 | Doe v. MySpace, Inc. | 474 F. Supp. 2d 843 | 22 |
| 1993 | Church of Scientology of Texas v. Internal Revenue Service | 816 F. Supp. 1138 | 19 |
| 1992 | Redd v. Fisher Controls | 814 F. Supp. 547 | 19 |
| 1992 | Texas Hospital Ass'n v. National Heritage Insurance | 802 F. Supp. 1507 | 19 |
| 1994 | McElroy v. United States | 861 F. Supp. 585 | 17 |
| 1992 | Administaff, Inc. v. Kaster | 799 F. Supp. 685 | 17 |
| 2002 | Hackett v. G.D. Searle & Co. | 246 F. Supp. 2d 591 | 16 |
| 2010 | Honestech, Inc. v. Sonic Solutions | 725 F. Supp. 2d 573 | 15 |
| 2004 | Panetti v. Dretke | 401 F. Supp. 2d 702 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 79 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 Sparks?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Sam Sparks to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 1991.
- Was Sam Sparks appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Sam Sparks 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 Sam Sparks's confirmation vote?
- Sam Sparks was confirmed by voice vote on November 21, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Sam Sparks on?
- Sam Sparks was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
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.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).