Sharon Lovelace Blackburn
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, Sharon Lovelace Blackburn is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. She earned a law degree from Samford University, Cumberland School of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1950 · age 76
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1991
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Alabama 1973 · Samford, Cumberland Law 1977
- Succeeded by
- Annemarie Carney Axon
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Northern District of Alabama | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Blackburn was assigned 5,559 district-court cases (1987–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 250 days across 5,545 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 139 of Blackburn’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 120 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 6 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, Blackburn authored 38 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Deerman v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (21 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Deerman v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. | 955 F. Supp. 1393 | 21 |
| 1997 | Lacey v. Lorillard Tobacco Co., Inc. | 956 F. Supp. 956 | 19 |
| 2011 | CHENG KE CHEN v. Holder | 783 F. Supp. 2d 1183 | 17 |
| 1997 | Kelly v. UHC Management Co., Inc. | 967 F. Supp. 1240 | 17 |
| 1998 | United States v. Powell | 1 F. Supp. 2d 1419 | 13 |
| 1995 | E S Robbins Corp. v. Eastman Chemical Co. | 912 F. Supp. 1476 | 10 |
| 2003 | Fowler v. Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co. | 256 F. Supp. 2d 1243 | 9 |
| 2002 | Dooley v. AutoNation USA Corp. | 218 F. Supp. 2d 1270 | 9 |
| 1997 | Edge v. Blockbuster Video, Inc. | 10 F. Supp. 2d 1248 | 9 |
| 1996 | Birmingham Musicians' Protective Ass'n, Local 256-733 v. Alabama Symphony Ass'n | 211 B.R. 65 | 9 |
| 2011 | Formosa v. Lowe's Home Centers, Inc. | 806 F. Supp. 2d 1181 | 8 |
| 1997 | In Re Lewis | 211 B.R. 970 | 8 |
| 2000 | Bailey v. Allgas, Inc. | 148 F. Supp. 2d 1222 | 7 |
| 2000 | Chalal v. Northwest Medical Center, Inc. | 147 F. Supp. 2d 1160 | 7 |
| 1996 | Smith v. Highland Bank | 915 F. Supp. 281 | 7 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 38 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 Sharon Lovelace Blackburn?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Sharon Lovelace Blackburn to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 1991.
- Was Sharon Lovelace Blackburn appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Sharon Lovelace Blackburn 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 Sharon Lovelace Blackburn's confirmation vote?
- Sharon Lovelace Blackburn was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Sharon Lovelace Blackburn on?
- Sharon Lovelace Blackburn is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Unknown authorUnknown author (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.
35 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).