Who appointed Samuel H. Mays Jr.?

President George W. Bush appointed Samuel H. Mays Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 2002.

Was Samuel H. Mays Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Samuel H. Mays Jr. was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Samuel H. Mays Jr.'s confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Samuel H. Mays Jr. 97–0 on May 9, 2002.

Western District of Tennessee / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2015

Samuel H. Mays Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by the Senate 97–0, Samuel H. Mays Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1948 · age 78
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: 97–0
Education: Amherst College 1970 · Yale Law School 1973
Succeeded: Jerome Turner
Succeeded by: Thomas Lee Robinson Parker

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2002	Western District of Tennessee succeeded Jerome Turner	G.W. Bush (R)	97–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 97–0 on May 9, 2002 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 106. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 97

49 D, 47 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 3

1 D, 2 R

Education

Amherst College	B.A.	1970
Yale Law School	J.D.	1973

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Mays was assigned 3,975 district-court cases (1967–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 314 days across 3,381 closed cases.

Other civil matters30%

Prisoner & habeas21%

Civil rights14%

Contract10%

Personal-injury torts8%

Labor & ERISA5%

Other13%

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 152 of Mays’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 134 were affirmed, 16 reversed or vacated, and 2 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, Mays authored 36 published opinions for the court (2002–2011). Most cited: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. (35 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
2009	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co.	621 F. Supp. 2d 603	35
2011	Starnes Family Office, LLC v. McCullar	765 F. Supp. 2d 1036	28
2011	Wright v. Linebarger Googan Blair & Sampson, LLP	782 F. Supp. 2d 593	24
2011	Evans v. Walgreen Co.	813 F. Supp. 2d 897	23
2010	Autozone, Inc. v. Glidden Co.	737 F. Supp. 2d 936	19
2010	BIRGS v. City of Memphis	686 F. Supp. 2d 776	19
2006	Smith & Nephew, Inc. v. Synthes (U.S.A.)	466 F. Supp. 2d 978	17
2002	Pickard v. Commissioner of Social Security	224 F. Supp. 2d 1161	16
2010	Williams v. United States	754 F. Supp. 2d 942	12
2011	ARVEST BANK v. Byrd	814 F. Supp. 2d 775	10
2010	Brown v. Hosto & Buchan, PLLC	748 F. Supp. 2d 847	10
2007	Clippard v. Bass	365 B.R. 131	10
2004	Brown v. Raymond Corp.	318 F. Supp. 2d 591	9
2010	Wynne v. Stonebridge Life Insurance	694 F. Supp. 2d 871	8
2003	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Autozone, Inc.	258 F. Supp. 2d 822	7

Showing the 15 most-cited of 36 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 H. Mays Jr.?: President George W. Bush appointed Samuel H. Mays Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 2002.
Was Samuel H. Mays Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Samuel H. Mays Jr. was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Samuel H. Mays Jr.'s confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Samuel H. Mays Jr. 97–0 on May 9, 2002.
Which court is Samuel H. Mays Jr. on?: Samuel H. Mays Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

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.

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