William F. Downes
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, William F. Downes was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. He earned a law degree from University of Houston Law Center in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1946 · age 80
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- North Texas State (now University of North Texas) 1968 · University of Houston Law Center 1974
- Succeeded by
- Scott Wesley Skavdahl
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | District of Wyoming | 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
| North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) | B.A. | 1968 |
| University of Houston Law Center | J.D. | 1974 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Downes was assigned 1,803 district-court cases (1990–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 286 days across 1,802 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 85 of Downes’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 73 were affirmed, 9 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Downes authored 15 published opinions for the court (1994–2006). Most cited: WY OUTDOOR COUNCIL POWDER RIVER BASIN RESOURCES COUNCIL v. US Army Corps of Engineers (16 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | WY OUTDOOR COUNCIL POWDER RIVER BASIN RESOURCES COUNCIL v. US Army Corps of Engineers | 351 F. Supp. 2d 1232 | 16 |
| 1997 | Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation v. Babbitt | 987 F. Supp. 1349 | 12 |
| 1994 | Gressley v. Deutsch | 890 F. Supp. 1474 | 10 |
| 1998 | Bear Lodge Multiple Use Ass'n v. Babbitt | 2 F. Supp. 2d 1448 | 8 |
| 2006 | In Re Natural Gas Royalties Qui Tam Litigation | 467 F. Supp. 2d 1117 | 7 |
| 1998 | Cooperman v. David | 23 F. Supp. 2d 1315 | 6 |
| 2004 | United States Ex Rel. Grynberg v. Ernst & Young LLP | 323 F. Supp. 2d 1152 | 5 |
| 2004 | Jones v. Bass | 343 F. Supp. 2d 1066 | 4 |
| 2004 | Huff v. Shumate | 360 F. Supp. 2d 1197 | 4 |
| 2004 | Sisco v. Fabrication Technologies, Inc. | 350 F. Supp. 2d 932 | 3 |
| 2006 | In Re Suspension of Attorney Jo Ann Fulton | 445 F. Supp. 2d 1325 | 1 |
| 2005 | Westland Holdings, Inc. v. Lay | 392 F. Supp. 2d 1283 | 1 |
| 2005 | Followwill v. Merit Energy Co. | 371 F. Supp. 2d 1305 | 1 |
| 1995 | Harvey v. Shillinger | 893 F. Supp. 1021 | 1 |
| 2006 | Devin v. United States | 423 F. Supp. 2d 1232 | 0 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 15 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 F. Downes?
- President William J. Clinton appointed William F. Downes to the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming in 1994.
- Was William F. Downes appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William F. Downes was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William F. Downes's confirmation vote?
- William F. Downes was confirmed by voice vote on June 15, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William F. Downes on?
- William F. Downes was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Michele Rushworth (CC BY-SA 3.0), 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.
17 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).