Who appointed Thomas A. Varlan?

President George W. Bush appointed Thomas A. Varlan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2003.

Was Thomas A. Varlan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Thomas A. Varlan was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Thomas A. Varlan's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Thomas A. Varlan 97–0 on March 13, 2003.

Eastern District of Tennessee / Appointed 2003 / Active

Thomas A. Varlan

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by the Senate 97–0, Thomas A. Varlan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1981. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1956 · age 70
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2003
Confirmed: 97–0
Education: University of Tennessee 1978 · Vanderbilt Law School 1981
Succeeded: Robert Leon Jordan

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2003	Eastern District of Tennessee succeeded Robert Leon Jordan	G.W. Bush (R)	97–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 97–0 on March 13, 2003 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 52. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 97

45 D, 51 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 3

3 D

Education

University of Tennessee	B.A.	1978
Vanderbilt University Law School	J.D.	1981

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Varlan was assigned 3,832 district-court cases (1998–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 322 days across 3,454 closed cases.

Other civil matters21%

Civil rights14%

Personal-injury torts13%

Prisoner & habeas12%

Contract9%

Other federal statutes8%

Other23%

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 416 of Varlan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 321 were affirmed, 67 reversed or vacated, and 28 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, Varlan authored 65 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Cloud Nine, LLC v. Whaley (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
2009	Cloud Nine, LLC v. Whaley	650 F. Supp. 2d 789	21
2010	Mays v. Tennessee Valley Authority	699 F. Supp. 2d 991	18
2011	Chesney v. Tennessee Valley Authority	782 F. Supp. 2d 570	8
2003	Brooks v. Sevier County	279 F. Supp. 2d 954	7
2011	Wilson v. State Farm Fire & Casualty, Co.	799 F. Supp. 2d 829	6
2011	In Re Tennessee Valley Authority Ash Spill Litigation	805 F. Supp. 2d 468	5
2010	Thompson v. Hayes	748 F. Supp. 2d 824	5
2009	Upperline Equipment Co. v. J & M, Inc.	724 F. Supp. 2d 883	5
2007	Brown v. Sun Healthcare Group, Inc.	476 F. Supp. 2d 848	5
2008	United States v. Osborne	565 F. Supp. 2d 927	4
2007	Massengill v. Anderson County Board of Education	478 F. Supp. 2d 1004	4
2006	Vann Ex Rel. Vann v. Stewart	445 F. Supp. 2d 882	4
2004	Butler v. Potter	345 F. Supp. 2d 844	4
2010	Brantley v. PEPSI BOTTLING GROUP, INC.	718 F. Supp. 2d 903	3
2009	Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. Walden Resources, LLC	672 F. Supp. 2d 835	3

Showing the 15 most-cited of 65 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 A. Varlan?: President George W. Bush appointed Thomas A. Varlan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2003.
Was Thomas A. Varlan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Thomas A. Varlan was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Thomas A. Varlan's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Thomas A. Varlan 97–0 on March 13, 2003.
Which court is Thomas A. Varlan on?: Thomas A. Varlan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

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.

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