Who appointed Sara Elizabeth Lioi?

President George W. Bush appointed Sara Elizabeth Lioi to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2007.

Was Sara Elizabeth Lioi appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Sara Elizabeth Lioi was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Sara Elizabeth Lioi's confirmation vote?

Sara Elizabeth Lioi was confirmed by voice vote on March 8, 2007. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of Ohio / Appointed 2007 / Active

Sara Elizabeth Lioi

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

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2007 and confirmed by voice vote, Sara Elizabeth Lioi is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. She earned a law degree from Ohio State University College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law) in 1987. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1960 · age 66
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2007
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Bowling Green State 1983 · Ohio State College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law) 1987
Succeeded: Lesley Brooks Wells

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2007	Northern District of Ohio succeeded Lesley Brooks Wells	G.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

Bowling Green State University	B.A.	1983
Ohio State University College of Law (now Michael E. Moritz College of Law)	J.D.	1987

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Lioi was assigned 2,886 district-court cases (1993–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 192 days across 2,716 closed cases.

Other civil matters20%

Civil rights12%

Labor & ERISA12%

Contract10%

Other federal statutes10%

Prisoner & habeas7%

Other29%

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 382 of Lioi’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 314 were affirmed, 40 reversed or vacated, and 28 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, Lioi authored 49 published opinions for the court (2007–2011). Most cited: Fleischer v. Astrue (709 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
2011	Fleischer v. Astrue	774 F. Supp. 2d 875	709
2009	Miles v. Raymond Corp.	612 F. Supp. 2d 913	30
2008	Hahn v. Rauch	602 F. Supp. 2d 895	25
2008	City of Cleveland v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co.	571 F. Supp. 2d 807	17
2009	Saint Gobain Autover USA, Inc. v. Xinyi Glass North America, Inc.	666 F. Supp. 2d 820	16
2009	In Re Keithley Instruments, Inc., Derivative Litigation	599 F. Supp. 2d 908	15
2010	Baumgardner v. Bimbo Food Bakeries Distribution, Inc.	697 F. Supp. 2d 801	14
2010	Saint-Gobain Autover USA, Inc. v. Xinyi Glass North America, Inc.	707 F. Supp. 2d 737	12
2008	In Re Keithley Instruments, Inc., Derivative Litigation	599 F. Supp. 2d 875	12
2009	R.C. Olmstead, Inc. v. CU Interface, LLC	657 F. Supp. 2d 878	11
2010	Drummond v. Houk	761 F. Supp. 2d 638	10
2009	R.C. Olmstead, Inc. v. CU Interface, LLC	657 F. Supp. 2d 899	10
2007	Solid Gold Jewelers v. ADT SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC.	600 F. Supp. 2d 956	10
2011	Kovacic v. Cuyahoga County Department of Children & Family Services	809 F. Supp. 2d 754	9
2010	Vos v. Cordray	719 F. Supp. 2d 832	9

Showing the 15 most-cited of 49 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 Sara Elizabeth Lioi?: President George W. Bush appointed Sara Elizabeth Lioi to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2007.
Was Sara Elizabeth Lioi appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Sara Elizabeth Lioi was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Sara Elizabeth Lioi's confirmation vote?: Sara Elizabeth Lioi was confirmed by voice vote on March 8, 2007. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Sara Elizabeth Lioi on?: Sara Elizabeth Lioi is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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.

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