Who appointed Thomas J. Whelan?

President William J. Clinton appointed Thomas J. Whelan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1998.

Was Thomas J. Whelan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Thomas J. Whelan was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Thomas J. Whelan's confirmation vote?

Thomas J. Whelan was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of California / Appointed 1998 / Senior status since 2010

Thomas J. Whelan

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

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Thomas J. Whelan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a law degree from San Diego School of Law (now University of San Diego School of Law) in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1940 · age 86
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1998
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: San Diego College for Men (now of San Diego) 1961 · San Diego Law (now of San Diego School of Law) 1965
Succeeded: John Skylstead Rhoades Sr.
Succeeded by: Gonzalo Paul Curiel

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1998	Southern District of California succeeded John Skylstead Rhoades Sr.	Clinton (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

San Diego College for Men (now University of San Diego)	B.A.	1961
San Diego School of Law (now University of San Diego School of Law)	J.D.	1965

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Whelan was assigned 4,129 district-court cases (1994–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 157 days across 3,892 closed cases.

Civil rights19%

Prisoner & habeas17%

Other civil matters15%

Other federal statutes12%

Contract11%

Personal-injury torts6%

Other20%

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 139 of Whelan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 110 were affirmed, 22 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, Whelan authored 37 published opinions for the court (1999–2009). Most cited: Computer Economics, Inc. v. Gartner Group, Inc. (71 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
1999	Computer Economics, Inc. v. Gartner Group, Inc.	50 F. Supp. 2d 980	71
2003	Hydranautics v. FilmTec Corp.	306 F. Supp. 2d 958	51
2001	DeMarco v. DepoTech Corp.	149 F. Supp. 2d 1212	37
2000	Reiger v. Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP	117 F. Supp. 2d 1003	36
2000	Clark v. Allstate Insurance	106 F. Supp. 2d 1016	33
2001	Johnson v. Nelson	142 F. Supp. 2d 1215	23
2000	Continental Laboratory Products, Inc. v. Medax International, Inc.	114 F. Supp. 2d 992	18
2008	Dynamic Finance Corp. v. Chapter 11 Trustee Richard Kipperman (In Re North Plaza, LLC)	395 B.R. 113	16
2006	Silvas v. ETrade Mortgage Corp.	421 F. Supp. 2d 1315	14
2000	Chu v. Syntron Bioresearch, Inc. (In Re Chu)	253 B.R. 92	14
2007	Veoh Networks, Inc. v. UMG Recordings, Inc.	522 F. Supp. 2d 1265	13
1999	Maldonado v. Fasano	67 F. Supp. 2d 1170	13
2000	Thrifty Oil Co. v. Bank of America National Trust & Savings Ass'n (In Re Thrifty Oil Co.)	249 B.R. 537	11
2006	Chong v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance	428 F. Supp. 2d 1136	10
2002	Acosta v. Direct Merchants Bank	207 F. Supp. 2d 1129	10

Showing the 15 most-cited of 37 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 J. Whelan?: President William J. Clinton appointed Thomas J. Whelan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 1998.
Was Thomas J. Whelan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Thomas J. Whelan was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Thomas J. Whelan's confirmation vote?: Thomas J. Whelan was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Thomas J. Whelan on?: Thomas J. Whelan is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern 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.

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