Who appointed Susan Harrell Black?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Susan Harrell Black to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 1992.

Was Susan Harrell Black appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Susan Harrell Black 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 Susan Harrell Black's confirmation vote?

Susan Harrell Black was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Eleventh Circuit / Appointed 1992 / Senior status since 2011

Susan Harrell Black

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Susan Harrell Black is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She earned a law degree from University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) in 1967. She previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1943 · age 83
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1992
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Florida State 1964 · University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) 1967
Succeeded: Thomas Alonzo Clark
Succeeded by: Adalberto Jose Jordan

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1979	Middle District of Florida	Carter (D)	Voice vote
1992	Eleventh Circuit succeeded Thomas Alonzo Clark	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

Florida State University	B.A.	1964
University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law)	J.D.	1967
University of Virginia School of Law	LL.M.	1984

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Black was assigned 429 district-court cases (1972–1992). Median time from filing to termination: 413 days across 429 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas36%

Contract16%

Personal-injury torts9%

Civil rights8%

Social Security6%

Other federal statutes6%

Other19%

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 12 of Black’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 12 were affirmed, 0 reversed or vacated. 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, Black authored 70 published opinions for the court (1979–1992). Most cited: DeSisto College, Inc. v. Town of Howey-In-The-Hills (55 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
1989	DeSisto College, Inc. v. Town of Howey-In-The-Hills	718 F. Supp. 906	55
1989	Kennan Ex Rel. Kennan v. Dow Chemical Co.	717 F. Supp. 799	50
1981	Guardian Mortgage Investors v. Sunset Villas Phase III Condominium Ass'n (In Re Guardian Mortgage Investors)	15 B.R. 284	24
1983	Brown v. American Petrofina Marketing, Inc.	555 F. Supp. 1327	20
1989	DeSisto College, Inc. v. Town of Howey-In-The-Hills	706 F. Supp. 1479	19
1987	Shields v. United States	662 F. Supp. 187	15
1992	United States v. Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin (In Re Warner)	141 B.R. 762	14
1981	United States v. Helmich	521 F. Supp. 1246	14
1986	United Guaranty Residential Insurance v. Alliance Mortgage Co.	644 F. Supp. 339	13
1982	Dobbert v. Strickland	532 F. Supp. 545	11
1988	Warner v. Unsecured Creditors' Committee (In Re Warner)	94 B.R. 734	10
1989	Charter Crude Oil Co. v. Exxon Co., U.S.A. (In Re Charter Co.)	103 B.R. 302	9
1987	Charter Co. v. Petroleos Mexicanos (In Re Charter Co.)	76 B.R. 191	9
1986	Rawson Food Services, Inc. v. Creditors' Committee	67 B.R. 351	9
1983	Hall v. Wainwright	565 F. Supp. 1222	9

Showing the 15 most-cited of 70 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 Susan Harrell Black?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Susan Harrell Black to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 1992.
Was Susan Harrell Black appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Susan Harrell Black 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 Susan Harrell Black's confirmation vote?: Susan Harrell Black was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Susan Harrell Black on?: Susan Harrell Black is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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.

34 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).