William Louis Beatty
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, William Louis Beatty was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1950. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1925–2001
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- St. Louis Law 1950
- Succeeded by
- David R. Herndon
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Southern District of Illinois | Carter (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
| St. Louis University School of Law | LL.B. | 1950 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Beatty was assigned 2,285 district-court cases (1981–2001). Median time from filing to termination: 241 days across 2,284 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.
In our data, Beatty authored 4 published opinions for the court (1980–1994). Most cited: Watters v. McRoberts (30 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Watters v. McRoberts | 167 B.R. 146 | 30 |
| 1989 | Niemann v. McDonnell Douglas Corp. | 721 F. Supp. 1019 | 17 |
| 1982 | In Re Wilnor Drilling, Inc. | 29 B.R. 727 | 14 |
| 1980 | Navarre v. Wisconsin Barge Line, Inc. | 502 F. Supp. 360 | 4 |
Showing the 4 most-cited of 4 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 William Louis Beatty?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed William Louis Beatty to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in 1979.
- Was William Louis Beatty appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Louis Beatty was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Louis Beatty's confirmation vote?
- William Louis Beatty was confirmed by voice vote on October 4, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William Louis Beatty on?
- William Louis Beatty was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
21 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).