Valerie Baker Fairbank
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2007 and confirmed by voice vote, Valerie Baker Fairbank is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She earned a law degree from University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2007
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of California, Santa Barbara 1971 · University of California, Los Angeles, Law 1975
- Succeeded
- Consuelo Bland Marshall
- Succeeded by
- Beverly Reid O'Connell
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Central District of California succeeded Consuelo Bland Marshall | G.W. Bush (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
| University of California, Santa Barbara | B.A. | 1971 |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | M.A. | 1972 |
| University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law | J.D. | 1975 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Fairbank was assigned 1,772 district-court cases (2000–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 156 days across 1,622 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 137 of Fairbank’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 119 were affirmed, 12 reversed or vacated, and 6 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, Fairbank authored 5 published opinions for the court (2007–2010). Most cited: Curry v. Baca (8 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Curry v. Baca | 497 F. Supp. 2d 1128 | 8 |
| 2008 | Davis v. Felker | 558 F. Supp. 2d 1008 | 3 |
| 2010 | Brown v. Yates | 753 F. Supp. 2d 1069 | 0 |
| 2009 | Vitality Rehab, Inc. v. Sebelius | 641 F. Supp. 2d 984 | 0 |
| 2007 | Moreno v. THOMAS PIA | 490 F. Supp. 2d 1055 | 0 |
Showing the 5 most-cited of 5 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 Valerie Baker Fairbank?
- President George W. Bush appointed Valerie Baker Fairbank to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2007.
- Was Valerie Baker Fairbank appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Valerie Baker Fairbank was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Valerie Baker Fairbank's confirmation vote?
- Valerie Baker Fairbank was confirmed by voice vote on February 1, 2007. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Valerie Baker Fairbank on?
- Valerie Baker Fairbank is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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.
19 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).