Who appointed Stephen Victor Wilson?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Stephen Victor Wilson to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1985.

Was Stephen Victor Wilson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Stephen Victor Wilson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Stephen Victor Wilson's confirmation vote?

Stephen Victor Wilson was confirmed by voice vote on October 16, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Central District of California / Appointed 1985 / Active

Stephen Victor Wilson

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, Stephen Victor Wilson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1967. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1941 · age 85
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1985
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Lehigh 1963 · Brooklyn Law School 1967

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1985	Central District of California	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

Lehigh University	B.A.	1963
Brooklyn Law School	J.D.	1967
George Washington University Law School	LL.M.	1973

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Wilson was assigned 12,606 district-court cases (1984–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 143 days across 12,160 closed cases.

Other civil matters17%

Civil rights15%

Prisoner & habeas13%

Contract11%

Other federal statutes10%

Intellectual property9%

Other26%

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 470 of Wilson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 354 were affirmed, 72 reversed or vacated, and 44 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, Wilson authored 132 published opinions for the court (1987–2011). Most cited: Wynn v. National Broadcasting Co., Inc. (63 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	Wynn v. National Broadcasting Co., Inc.	234 F. Supp. 2d 1067	63
2004	Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. Caridi	346 F. Supp. 2d 1068	60
2007	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.	518 F. Supp. 2d 1197	58
2011	Amini Innovation Corp. v. KTY International Marketing	768 F. Supp. 2d 1049	43
1996	Sanderson v. International Flavors & Fragrancies, Inc.	950 F. Supp. 981	38
2002	TPS Utilicom Services, Inc. v. AT & T CORP.	223 F. Supp. 2d 1089	35
1998	Plevy v. Haggerty	38 F. Supp. 2d 816	35
1999	Glen Holly Entertainment, Inc. v. Tektronix, Inc.	100 F. Supp. 2d 1086	34
2003	In Re Imperial Credit Industries, Inc. Securities Litigation	252 F. Supp. 2d 1005	30
2001	99 Cents Only Stores v. Lancaster Redevelopment Agency	237 F. Supp. 2d 1123	29
2005	Diaz v. Federal Express Corp.	373 F. Supp. 2d 1034	27
1989	Universal Analytics, Inc. v. MacNeal-Schwendler Corp.	707 F. Supp. 1170	25
2007	Mitan v. Feeney	497 F. Supp. 2d 1113	24
2002	Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Department of the Interior	275 F. Supp. 2d 1136	24
1991	Zogbi v. Federated Department Store	767 F. Supp. 1037	24

Showing the 15 most-cited of 132 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 Stephen Victor Wilson?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Stephen Victor Wilson to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1985.
Was Stephen Victor Wilson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Stephen Victor Wilson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Stephen Victor Wilson's confirmation vote?: Stephen Victor Wilson was confirmed by voice vote on October 16, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Stephen Victor Wilson on?: Stephen Victor Wilson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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.

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