Who appointed Walter Evan Black Jr.?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Walter Evan Black Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 1982.

Was Walter Evan Black Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Walter Evan Black Jr. was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Walter Evan Black Jr.'s confirmation vote?

Walter Evan Black Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on April 20, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Maryland / Appointed 1982 / Served to 2014

Walter Evan Black Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, Walter Evan Black Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1926–2014
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1982
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Harvard 1947 · Harvard Law School 1949
Succeeded: Edward Skottowe Northrop
Succeeded by: Andre Maurice Davis

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1982	District of Maryland succeeded Edward Skottowe Northrop	Reagan (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

Harvard University	A.B.	1947
Harvard Law School	LL.B.	1949

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Black was assigned 2,666 district-court cases (1978–2002). Median time from filing to termination: 274 days across 2,666 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas24%

Contract21%

Personal-injury torts19%

Civil rights10%

Labor & ERISA6%

Other federal statutes4%

Other17%

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.

In our data, Black authored 50 published opinions for the court (1983–2003). Most cited: Shaw v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. (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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1997	Shaw v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.	973 F. Supp. 539	66
1992	Nichols v. G.D. Searle & Co.	783 F. Supp. 233	40
1996	Knussman v. State of Md.	935 F. Supp. 659	38
1995	United States Ex Rel. Milam v. Regents of the University of California	912 F. Supp. 868	35
1988	Invisible Empire of Knights of Ku Klux Klan v. Mayor, Board of Commissioners	700 F. Supp. 281	35
1986	United States v. Omni International Corp.	634 F. Supp. 1414	32
1995	Quirk v. Baltimore County, Md.	895 F. Supp. 773	31
1998	Knussman v. State of Md.	16 F. Supp. 2d 601	24
1998	Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. v. Rommel Builders, Inc.	3 F. Supp. 2d 661	24
1999	Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. v. Rommel Builders, Inc.	40 F. Supp. 2d 700	21
1989	Sara Lee Corp. v. Homasote Co.	719 F. Supp. 417	19
2000	Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston v. Stone Street Capital, Inc.	93 F. Supp. 2d 630	15
1989	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Peterson, Howell & Heather, Inc.	702 F. Supp. 1213	15
2000	Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. v. Lob, Inc.	92 F. Supp. 2d 456	14
1987	Gordon v. United States Department of the Treasury	668 F. Supp. 483	14

Showing the 15 most-cited of 50 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 Walter Evan Black Jr.?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Walter Evan Black Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 1982.
Was Walter Evan Black Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Walter Evan Black Jr. was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Walter Evan Black Jr.'s confirmation vote?: Walter Evan Black Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on April 20, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Walter Evan Black Jr. on?: Walter Evan Black Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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