Who appointed Sarah Evans Barker?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Sarah Evans Barker to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in 1984.

Was Sarah Evans Barker appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Sarah Evans Barker was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Sarah Evans Barker's confirmation vote?

Sarah Evans Barker was confirmed by voice vote on March 13, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of Indiana / Appointed 1984 / Senior status since 2014

Sarah Evans Barker

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and confirmed by voice vote, Sarah Evans Barker is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. She earned a law degree from American University, Washington College of Law in 1969. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1943 · age 83
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1984
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Indiana 1965 · American, Washington College of Law 1969
Succeeded: Cale James Holder
Succeeded by: James Russell Sweeney II

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1984	Southern District of Indiana succeeded Cale James Holder	Reagan (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

Indiana University	B.S.	1965
American University, Washington College of Law	J.D.	1969

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Barker was assigned 19,370 district-court cases (1975–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 224 days across 18,495 closed cases.

Other civil matters20%

Prisoner & habeas18%

Civil rights15%

Personal-injury torts14%

Contract9%

Other federal statutes8%

Other17%

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 355 of Barker’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 275 were affirmed, 60 reversed or vacated, and 20 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, Barker authored 431 published opinions for the court (1984–2011). Most cited: In Re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. Tires Products (80 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	In Re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. Tires Products	155 F. Supp. 2d 1069	80
1997	Kenro, Inc. v. Fax Daily, Inc.	962 F. Supp. 1162	71
1989	White v. Boston (In Re White)	104 B.R. 951	47
2006	Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita	458 F. Supp. 2d 775	41
1992	United States v. Wedzeb Enterprises, Inc.	809 F. Supp. 646	41
1990	Hildebrand v. Hildebrand	736 F. Supp. 1512	37
2001	McKinney v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.	128 F. Supp. 2d 1196	34
1989	Reid v. Indianapolis Osteopathic Medical Hospital, Inc.	709 F. Supp. 853	34
2000	Heritage Mutual Insurance v. Advanced Polymer Technology, Inc.	97 F. Supp. 2d 913	32
2002	In Re Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., Tires Products Liability Litigation	190 F. Supp. 2d 1125	27
1988	Shannon v. Bepko	684 F. Supp. 1465	27
1991	Allied Companies v. Holly Farms Foods, Inc. (In Re Allied Companies)	137 B.R. 919	24
1998	Guinan v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis	42 F. Supp. 2d 849	21
1995	Kenro, Inc. v. Fax Daily, Inc.	904 F. Supp. 912	21
2011	Estate of Eiteljorg Ex Rel. Eiteljorg v. Eiteljorg	813 F. Supp. 2d 1069	20

Showing the 15 most-cited of 431 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 Sarah Evans Barker?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Sarah Evans Barker to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in 1984.
Was Sarah Evans Barker appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Sarah Evans Barker was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Sarah Evans Barker's confirmation vote?: Sarah Evans Barker was confirmed by voice vote on March 13, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Sarah Evans Barker on?: Sarah Evans Barker is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

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.

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