Vanessa D. Gilmore
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Vanessa D. Gilmore was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She earned a law degree from University of Houston Law Center in 1981. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1956 · age 70
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Hampton 1977 · University of Houston Law Center 1981
- Succeeded by
- John Andrew Kazen
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Southern District of Texas | 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
| Hampton University | B.S. | 1977 |
| University of Houston Law Center | J.D. | 1981 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gilmore was assigned 8,190 district-court cases (1969–2021). Median time from filing to termination: 243 days across 8,179 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 425 of Gilmore’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 349 were affirmed, 47 reversed or vacated, and 29 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, Gilmore authored 52 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Frith v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America (184 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Frith v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America | 9 F. Supp. 2d 734 | 184 |
| 2004 | Spinks v. TruGreen Landcare, L.L.C. | 322 F. Supp. 2d 784 | 25 |
| 2003 | United States Ex Rel. Reagon v. East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System | 274 F. Supp. 2d 824 | 25 |
| 2001 | In Re Baker Hughes Securities Litigation | 136 F. Supp. 2d 630 | 19 |
| 1995 | Iwag v. Geisel Compania Maritima, S.A. | 882 F. Supp. 597 | 16 |
| 2004 | City of Shoreacres v. Waterworth | 332 F. Supp. 2d 992 | 15 |
| 1997 | Ginzburg v. Memorial Healthcare Systems, Inc. | 993 F. Supp. 998 | 14 |
| 2011 | Brantley v. INSPECTORATE AMERICA CORP. | 821 F. Supp. 2d 879 | 11 |
| 1996 | Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. v. Capece | 950 F. Supp. 783 | 11 |
| 1997 | Oliva v. Chrysler Corp. | 978 F. Supp. 685 | 10 |
| 2009 | Cushman v. GC SERVICES, LP | 657 F. Supp. 2d 834 | 9 |
| 1999 | Procter & Gamble Co. v. Amway Corp. | 80 F. Supp. 2d 639 | 9 |
| 1997 | Wercinski v. International Business MacHines Corp. | 982 F. Supp. 449 | 9 |
| 1996 | Rayha v. United Parcel Service, Inc. | 940 F. Supp. 1066 | 9 |
| 1998 | Frith v. Guardian Life Insurance Company of America | 9 F. Supp. 2d 744 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 52 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 Vanessa D. Gilmore?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Vanessa D. Gilmore to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1994.
- Was Vanessa D. Gilmore appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Vanessa D. Gilmore was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Vanessa D. Gilmore's confirmation vote?
- Vanessa D. Gilmore was confirmed by voice vote on June 8, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Vanessa D. Gilmore on?
- Vanessa D. Gilmore was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (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.
27 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).