Sarah S. Vance
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Sarah S. Vance is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She earned a law degree from Tulane University Law School in 1978. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1950 · age 76
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Louisiana State 1971 · Tulane Law School 1978
- Succeeded
- Henry Alvan Mentz Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Anna Elizabeth Wagner St. John
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Eastern District of Louisiana succeeded Henry Alvan Mentz Jr. | Clinton (D) | 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
| Louisiana State University | B.A. | 1971 |
| Tulane University Law School | J.D. | 1978 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Vance was assigned 8,006 district-court cases (1983–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 275 days across 7,736 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 184 of Vance’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 148 were affirmed, 20 reversed or vacated, and 16 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, Vance authored 147 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Lassiegne v. Taco Bell Corp. (57 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Lassiegne v. Taco Bell Corp. | 202 F. Supp. 2d 512 | 57 |
| 2008 | Johnson v. Big Lots Stores, Inc. | 561 F. Supp. 2d 567 | 44 |
| 1996 | Jefferson v. Lead Industries Ass'n, Inc. | 930 F. Supp. 241 | 42 |
| 2009 | Murungi v. Texas Guaranteed | 646 F. Supp. 2d 804 | 28 |
| 2009 | Johnson v. Big Lots Stores, Inc. | 639 F. Supp. 2d 696 | 28 |
| 2009 | Pinero v. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. | 594 F. Supp. 2d 710 | 25 |
| 2007 | Caruso v. Allstate Insurance | 469 F. Supp. 2d 364 | 23 |
| 2010 | Lang v. DirecTV, Inc. | 735 F. Supp. 2d 421 | 22 |
| 2009 | Johnson v. Cenac Towing, Inc. | 599 F. Supp. 2d 721 | 22 |
| 1995 | Zatarain v. WDSU-Television, Inc. | 881 F. Supp. 240 | 22 |
| 2001 | Pellerin Construction, Inc. v. Witco Corp. | 169 F. Supp. 2d 568 | 21 |
| 2010 | St. Charles Parish Hospital Service Dist. No. 1 v. United Fire & Casualty Co. | 681 F. Supp. 2d 748 | 19 |
| 2007 | Graphia v. Balboa Insurance | 517 F. Supp. 2d 854 | 19 |
| 2009 | Johnson v. Big Lots Stores, Inc. | 604 F. Supp. 2d 903 | 17 |
| 2010 | Concerned Citizens Around Murphy v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. | 686 F. Supp. 2d 663 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 147 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 S. Vance?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Sarah S. Vance to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1994.
- Was Sarah S. Vance appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Sarah S. Vance was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Sarah S. Vance's confirmation vote?
- Sarah S. Vance was confirmed by voice vote on September 28, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Sarah S. Vance on?
- Sarah S. Vance is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).