Western District of Texas / Appointed 1994 / Served to 2013

William Royal Furgeson Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, William Royal Furgeson Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He earned a law degree from University of Texas School of Law in 1967. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1941 · age 85
Appointed by
William J. Clinton, 1994
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech) 1964 · University of Texas Law 1967
Succeeded by
Robert Lee Pitman

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1994Western District of TexasClinton (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Furgeson was assigned 2,864 district-court cases (1985–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 260 days across 2,861 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas37%
Civil rights16%
Contract12%
Personal-injury torts8%
Social Security6%
Other federal statutes5%
Other16%

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 119 of Furgeson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 104 were affirmed, 10 reversed or vacated, and 5 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, Furgeson authored 68 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: United States v. Barth (60 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1998United States v. Barth26 F. Supp. 2d 92960
2000Riggan v. Midland Independent School District86 F. Supp. 2d 64722
1995Leija v. Canutillo Independent School District887 F. Supp. 94721
2001United States v. Outlaw134 F. Supp. 2d 80720
1998Galindo v. Johnson19 F. Supp. 2d 69714
2000Paredes v. City of Odessa128 F. Supp. 2d 100912
2009United States v. Salinas665 F. Supp. 2d 71711
2000In Re Permian Producers Drilling, Inc.263 B.R. 51011
1995Lackey v. Scott885 F. Supp. 95811
2000United States v. Ramon86 F. Supp. 2d 66510
2002United States v. $39,480.00 in United States Currency190 F. Supp. 2d 9299
1999United States v. Spruill61 F. Supp. 2d 5879
1998United States v. $69,530.00 in United States Currency22 F. Supp. 2d 5939
2007Spencer v. Rau542 F. Supp. 2d 5838
1997McNamera v. United States Department of Justice974 F. Supp. 9468

Showing the 15 most-cited of 68 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 Royal Furgeson Jr.?
President William J. Clinton appointed William Royal Furgeson Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 1994.
Was William Royal Furgeson Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
William Royal Furgeson Jr. 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 Royal Furgeson Jr.'s confirmation vote?
William Royal Furgeson Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on March 10, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was William Royal Furgeson Jr. on?
William Royal Furgeson Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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