Thelton Eugene Henderson
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and confirmed by voice vote, Thelton Eugene Henderson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1962. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1933 · age 93
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1980
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley 1956 · University of California, Berkeley, Law 1962
- Succeeded
- Cecil F. Poole
- Succeeded by
- William Haskell Alsup
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Northern District of California succeeded Cecil F. Poole | Carter (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Henderson was assigned 3,327 district-court cases (1979–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 180 days across 3,326 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 99 of Henderson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 81 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 7 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, Henderson authored 126 published opinions for the court (1980–2011). Most cited: Madrid v. Gomez (115 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Madrid v. Gomez | 889 F. Supp. 1146 | 115 |
| 1989 | Nehmer v. United States Veterans' Administration | 712 F. Supp. 1404 | 47 |
| 1998 | Dunlap v. Association of Bay Area Governments | 996 F. Supp. 962 | 32 |
| 1991 | Citizens for a Better Environment v. Wilson | 775 F. Supp. 1291 | 32 |
| 1999 | Nehmer v. United States Veterans Administration | 32 F. Supp. 2d 1175 | 31 |
| 1999 | Lucas v. White | 63 F. Supp. 2d 1046 | 30 |
| 1990 | Paris v. F. Korbel & Bros., Inc. | 751 F. Supp. 834 | 30 |
| 2007 | Stickrath v. Globalstar, Inc. | 527 F. Supp. 2d 992 | 28 |
| 1987 | Roberts v. Heim | 670 F. Supp. 1466 | 28 |
| 1986 | Priest v. Rotary | 634 F. Supp. 571 | 27 |
| 1994 | Arnold v. United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc. | 866 F. Supp. 433 | 25 |
| 1993 | Parravano v. Babbitt | 837 F. Supp. 1034 | 24 |
| 2000 | Walker v. Carnival Cruise Lines | 107 F. Supp. 2d 1135 | 23 |
| 1990 | Citizens for a Better Environment v. Deukmejian | 731 F. Supp. 1448 | 23 |
| 1996 | Ashmus v. Calderon | 935 F. Supp. 1048 | 21 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 126 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 Thelton Eugene Henderson?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Thelton Eugene Henderson to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 1980.
- Was Thelton Eugene Henderson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Thelton Eugene Henderson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Thelton Eugene Henderson's confirmation vote?
- Thelton Eugene Henderson was confirmed by voice vote on June 26, 1980. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Thelton Eugene Henderson on?
- Thelton Eugene Henderson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Northern District of California (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.
46 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).