Who appointed Samuel Conti?

President Richard M. Nixon appointed Samuel Conti to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1970.

Was Samuel Conti appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Samuel Conti was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Samuel Conti's confirmation vote?

Samuel Conti was confirmed by voice vote on October 13, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of California / Appointed 1970 / Served to 2018

Samuel Conti

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

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, Samuel Conti was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1948. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1922–2018
Appointed by: Richard M. Nixon, 1970
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Santa Clara (now Santa Clara) 1945 · Stanford Law School 1948
Succeeded by: Fern M. Smith

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1970	Northern District of California	Nixon (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 Santa Clara (now Santa Clara University)	B.S.	1945
Stanford Law School	LL.B.	1948

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Conti was assigned 2,965 district-court cases (1975–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 266 days across 2,965 closed cases.

Labor & ERISA22%

Other federal statutes18%

Contract18%

Personal-injury torts11%

Intellectual property7%

Civil rights5%

Other20%

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 86 of Conti’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 63 were affirmed, 12 reversed or vacated, and 11 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, Conti authored 175 published opinions for the court (1971–2011). Most cited: IBC Aviation Services, Inc. v. Compañia Mexicana De Aviacion (117 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
2000	IBC Aviation Services, Inc. v. Compañia Mexicana De Aviacion	125 F. Supp. 2d 1008	117
2008	In Re Omnivision Technologies, Inc.	559 F. Supp. 2d 1036	113
1978	Ilc Peripherals Leasing Corp. v. International Business MacHines Corp.	458 F. Supp. 423	76
2008	Penpower Technology Ltd. v. S.P.C. Technology	627 F. Supp. 2d 1083	60
1988	In Re Worlds of Wonder Securities Litigation	694 F. Supp. 1427	37
1993	In Re Worlds of Wonder Securities Litigation	814 F. Supp. 850	33
2008	Ruiz v. Gap, Inc.	540 F. Supp. 2d 1121	27
2005	NGV Gaming, Ltd. v. Upstream Point Molate, LLC	355 F. Supp. 2d 1061	27
1991	McCormick-Morgan, Inc. v. Teledyne Industries, Inc.	765 F. Supp. 611	26
2008	First Advantage Background Services Corp. v. Private Eyes, Inc.	569 F. Supp. 2d 929	24
1992	Finkelstein v. Bergna	804 F. Supp. 1235	24
1980	Nelson v. Quimby Island Reclamation District Facilities Corp.	491 F. Supp. 1364	24
2011	Beauperthuy v. 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc.	772 F. Supp. 2d 1111	23
1998	Contreras v. Corinthian Vigor Insurance Brokerage, Inc.	25 F. Supp. 2d 1053	23
1984	United States v. Allied Chemical Corp.	587 F. Supp. 1205	23

Showing the 15 most-cited of 175 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 Samuel Conti?: President Richard M. Nixon appointed Samuel Conti to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1970.
Was Samuel Conti appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Samuel Conti was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Samuel Conti's confirmation vote?: Samuel Conti was confirmed by voice vote on October 13, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Samuel Conti on?: Samuel Conti 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.

47 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).