Wendell Alverson Miles
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1974 and confirmed by voice vote, Wendell Alverson Miles was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1942. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1916–2013
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1974
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Hope College 1938 · University of Michigan Law School 1942
- Succeeded
- Albert Joseph Engel
- Succeeded by
- Robert Holmes Bell
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Western District of Michigan succeeded Albert Joseph Engel | Nixon (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
| Hope College | A.B. | 1938 |
| University of Wyoming | M.A. | 1939 |
| University of Michigan Law School | J.D. | 1942 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Miles was assigned 1,666 district-court cases (1981–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 204 days across 1,666 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 67 of Miles’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 58 were affirmed, 5 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Miles authored 95 published opinions for the court (1974–2008). Most cited: D'Angelo v. Commissioner of Social Security (64 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | D'Angelo v. Commissioner of Social Security | 475 F. Supp. 2d 716 | 64 |
| 2001 | Schultz v. Ary | 175 F. Supp. 2d 959 | 42 |
| 1982 | Chamberlain v. Bissell Inc. | 547 F. Supp. 1067 | 35 |
| 1979 | McAvoy v. Internal Revenue Service | 475 F. Supp. 297 | 27 |
| 2006 | Hendricks v. DSW Shoe Warehouse Inc. | 444 F. Supp. 2d 775 | 26 |
| 1987 | Wolcott v. Champion International Corp. | 691 F. Supp. 1052 | 23 |
| 1985 | Dalrymple v. Nat. Bank & Trust Co. of Traverse City | 615 F. Supp. 979 | 21 |
| 1988 | Anderson v. Whittaker Corp. | 692 F. Supp. 764 | 18 |
| 1986 | Matter of Lowing | 635 F. Supp. 520 | 18 |
| 1978 | Colorado National Bank v. First National Bank & Trust Co. | 459 F. Supp. 1366 | 18 |
| 1982 | Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. Dickens | 535 F. Supp. 922 | 17 |
| 1978 | Oliphant v. Koehler | 451 F. Supp. 1305 | 17 |
| 1996 | Pion v. Liberty Dairy Co. | 922 F. Supp. 48 | 15 |
| 1983 | Jones v. Schweiker | 565 F. Supp. 52 | 15 |
| 1981 | Nabke v. U. S. Department of Housing & Urban Development | 520 F. Supp. 5 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 95 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 Wendell Alverson Miles?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Wendell Alverson Miles to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in 1974.
- Was Wendell Alverson Miles appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Wendell Alverson Miles was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Wendell Alverson Miles's confirmation vote?
- Wendell Alverson Miles was confirmed by voice vote on April 10, 1974. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Wendell Alverson Miles on?
- Wendell Alverson Miles was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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.
39 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).