Samuel B. Kent
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, Samuel B. Kent was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1990
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Texas 1971 · University of Texas Law 1975
- Succeeded
- Hugh Gibson
- Succeeded by
- Marina Garcia Marmolejo
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Southern District of Texas succeeded Hugh Gibson | 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. | 1971 |
| University of Texas School of Law | J.D. | 1975 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Kent was assigned 9,725 district-court cases (1983–2009). Median time from filing to termination: 249 days across 9,722 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 54 of Kent’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 44 were affirmed, 7 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Kent authored 544 published opinions for the court (1990–2008). Most cited: Continental Airlines, Inc. v. American Airlines, Inc. (95 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Continental Airlines, Inc. v. American Airlines, Inc. | 805 F. Supp. 1392 | 95 |
| 1993 | Dupre v. Spanier Marine Corp. | 810 F. Supp. 823 | 90 |
| 1996 | Henderson v. AT & T CORP. | 918 F. Supp. 1059 | 47 |
| 2001 | McCaskey v. Continental Airlines, Inc. | 133 F. Supp. 2d 514 | 39 |
| 1999 | St. Clair v. Johnny's Oyster & Shrimp, Inc. | 76 F. Supp. 2d 773 | 35 |
| 1996 | Baldwin v. University of Texas | 945 F. Supp. 1022 | 35 |
| 1997 | McKey v. Occidental Chemical Corp. | 956 F. Supp. 1313 | 33 |
| 1992 | Villar v. Crowley Maritime Corp. | 780 F. Supp. 1467 | 32 |
| 1993 | Brown v. Crop Hail Management, Inc. | 813 F. Supp. 519 | 31 |
| 2000 | Bigham v. Envirocare of Utah, Inc. | 123 F. Supp. 2d 1046 | 30 |
| 1998 | LeBouef v. Gulf Operators, Inc. | 20 F. Supp. 2d 1057 | 29 |
| 1998 | Satsky v. United States | 993 F. Supp. 1027 | 28 |
| 2001 | Davenport v. Rodriguez | 147 F. Supp. 2d 630 | 27 |
| 1995 | Coleman v. Alcolac, Inc. | 888 F. Supp. 1388 | 27 |
| 1996 | Martin v. Ford Motor Co. | 914 F. Supp. 1449 | 26 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 544 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 B. Kent?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Samuel B. Kent to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1990.
- Was Samuel B. Kent appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Samuel B. Kent 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 Samuel B. Kent's confirmation vote?
- Samuel B. Kent was confirmed by voice vote on September 28, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Samuel B. Kent on?
- Samuel B. Kent was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: US District Court of the Southern District of Texas? (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.
18 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).