Thomas Aquinas Higgins
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and confirmed by voice vote, Thomas Aquinas Higgins was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1932–2018
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1984
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Tennessee 1954 · Vanderbilt Law School 1957
- Succeeded
- Leland Clure Morton
- Succeeded by
- William Joseph Haynes Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Middle District of Tennessee succeeded Leland Clure Morton | 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
| Christian Brothers College | A.A. | 1952 |
| University of Tennessee | B.A. | 1954 |
| Vanderbilt University Law School | LL.B. | 1957 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Higgins was assigned 3,810 district-court cases (1980–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 235 days across 3,810 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 39 of Higgins’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 35 were affirmed, 3 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Higgins authored 87 published opinions for the court (1985–2010). Most cited: Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. London Music, U.K. (42 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. London Music, U.K. | 345 F. Supp. 2d 836 | 42 |
| 1989 | Ellwest Stereo Theater, Inc. v. Boner | 718 F. Supp. 1553 | 33 |
| 1987 | Waldschmidt v. Ranier (In Re Fulghum Construction Corp.) | 78 B.R. 146 | 32 |
| 1989 | Nichols v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith | 706 F. Supp. 1309 | 29 |
| 1987 | In Re the Blanton Smith Corp. | 81 B.R. 440 | 26 |
| 2000 | Kinnard v. Shoney's, Inc. | 100 F. Supp. 2d 781 | 25 |
| 1992 | Harwell v. American Medical Systems, Inc. | 803 F. Supp. 1287 | 23 |
| 1992 | Smith Corona Corp. v. Pelikan, Inc. | 784 F. Supp. 452 | 22 |
| 1994 | Wilson v. Wayne County | 856 F. Supp. 1254 | 19 |
| 1990 | United States v. MacOmb Contracting Corp. | 763 F. Supp. 272 | 15 |
| 1999 | Chrysler Financial Corp. v. Nolan | 234 B.R. 390 | 14 |
| 1994 | Jones Truck Lines, Inc. v. Aladdin Synergetics, Inc. | 174 B.R. 76 | 14 |
| 1996 | Soper v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | 923 F. Supp. 1032 | 12 |
| 1994 | Manis v. Corrections Corp. of America | 859 F. Supp. 302 | 12 |
| 1997 | Cole v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County | 954 F. Supp. 1214 | 11 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 87 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 Thomas Aquinas Higgins?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas Aquinas Higgins to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in 1984.
- Was Thomas Aquinas Higgins appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Thomas Aquinas Higgins was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Thomas Aquinas Higgins's confirmation vote?
- Thomas Aquinas Higgins was confirmed by voice vote on October 3, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Thomas Aquinas Higgins on?
- Thomas Aquinas Higgins was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (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.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).