Who appointed W. Craig Broadwater?

President William J. Clinton appointed W. Craig Broadwater to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in 1996.

Was W. Craig Broadwater appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

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

What was W. Craig Broadwater's confirmation vote?

W. Craig Broadwater was confirmed by voice vote on July 12, 1996. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Northern District of West Virginia / Appointed 1996 / Served to 2006

W. Craig Broadwater

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1996 and confirmed by voice vote, W. Craig Broadwater was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. He earned a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1950–2006
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1996
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: West Virginia 1972 · West Virginia College of Law 1977
Succeeded: Robert Earl Maxwell
Succeeded by: Gina Marie Groh

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1996	Northern District of West Virginia succeeded Robert Earl Maxwell	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

West Virginia University	B.A.	1972
West Virginia University College of Law	J.D.	1977

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Broadwater was assigned 939 district-court cases (1985–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 285 days across 939 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas22%

Personal-injury torts20%

Contract19%

Civil rights14%

Social Security9%

Other federal statutes5%

Other11%

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 32 of Broadwater’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 24 were affirmed, 6 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, Broadwater authored 46 published opinions for the court (1997–2005). Most cited: University of West Virginia Board of Trustees v. VanVoorhies (11 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
2000	University of West Virginia Board of Trustees v. VanVoorhies	84 F. Supp. 2d 759	11
1999	United States Ex Rel. McDermitt, Inc. v. Centex-Simpson Construction Co.	34 F. Supp. 2d 397	11
2002	Rankin v. Berkeley County Sheriff's Department	222 F. Supp. 2d 802	8
2000	Jackson v. Allstate Ins. Co.	132 F. Supp. 2d 432	7
1999	Vortekx, Inc. v. IAS Communications, Inc.	72 F. Supp. 2d 638	7
1997	Henegar v. Sears, Roebuck and Co.	965 F. Supp. 833	7
2000	McDaniel v. Travelers Property Casualty Insurance	121 F. Supp. 2d 508	5
2000	Sprenkle v. Hartford Life Insurance	84 F. Supp. 2d 751	5
1998	University of West Virginia Board of Trustees Ex Rel. West Virginia University v. Vanvoorhies	33 F. Supp. 2d 519	5
1998	Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	5 F. Supp. 2d 399	5
2005	Pennington v. Teufel	396 F. Supp. 2d 715	4
2001	Jones v. Painter	140 F. Supp. 2d 677	4
2000	Fox v. General Motors, Corp.	94 F. Supp. 2d 723	4
1998	DeLullo Ex Rel. DeLullo v. Jefferson County Board of Education	71 F. Supp. 2d 554	4
1998	Apple Valley Chevy v. Goodwin	997 F. Supp. 746	4

Showing the 15 most-cited of 46 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 W. Craig Broadwater?: President William J. Clinton appointed W. Craig Broadwater to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in 1996.
Was W. Craig Broadwater appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: W. Craig Broadwater was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was W. Craig Broadwater's confirmation vote?: W. Craig Broadwater was confirmed by voice vote on July 12, 1996. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was W. Craig Broadwater on?: W. Craig Broadwater was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

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.

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