Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr.
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and confirmed by voice vote, Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. 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 1954. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1930–2020
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1978
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Vanderbilt 1952 · Vanderbilt Law School 1954
- Succeeded
- Frank Gray Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Todd J. Campbell
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Middle District of Tennessee succeeded Frank Gray Jr. | 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
| Vanderbilt University | B.A. | 1952 |
| Vanderbilt University Law School | J.D. | 1954 |
| University of Virginia School of Law | LL.M. | 1990 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Wiseman was assigned 2,983 district-court cases (1955–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 242 days across 2,981 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 59 of Wiseman’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 47 were affirmed, 10 reversed or vacated, and 2 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, Wiseman authored 248 published opinions for the court (1979–2011). Most cited: Waldschmidt v. CBS, INC. (66 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Waldschmidt v. CBS, INC. | 14 B.R. 309 | 66 |
| 2008 | Smith v. Kyphon, Inc. | 578 F. Supp. 2d 954 | 48 |
| 1982 | Hornal v. Schweiker | 551 F. Supp. 612 | 45 |
| 1988 | Brewer v. Ravan | 680 F. Supp. 1176 | 42 |
| 1982 | Benz v. Nelson (In Re Nelson) | 20 B.R. 1008 | 42 |
| 1980 | In Re Buren | 6 B.R. 744 | 33 |
| 1993 | Jones v. United States Drug Enforcement Administration | 819 F. Supp. 698 | 32 |
| 1985 | SAS Institute, Inc. v. S & H Computer Systems, Inc. | 605 F. Supp. 816 | 29 |
| 1982 | Howse v. DeBerry Correctional Institute | 537 F. Supp. 1177 | 29 |
| 2000 | Ware v. United States | 124 F. Supp. 2d 590 | 26 |
| 1998 | Bryant v. Delbar Products, Inc. | 18 F. Supp. 2d 799 | 26 |
| 1995 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Walden Book Co. | 885 F. Supp. 1100 | 26 |
| 1980 | Ferguson v. Metropolitan Development & Housing Agency | 485 F. Supp. 517 | 26 |
| 1979 | Tennessee v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad | 478 F. Supp. 199 | 26 |
| 2010 | Sagan v. Sumner County Board of Education | 726 F. Supp. 2d 868 | 25 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 248 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 Anderton Wiseman Jr.?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in 1978.
- Was Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1978. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. on?
- Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr. 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
- 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.
41 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).