William Thomas Hart
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, William Thomas Hart was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1951. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2023
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1982
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Loyola Chicago Law 1951
- Succeeded
- John Powers Crowley
- Succeeded by
- Rebecca R. Pallmeyer
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Northern District of Illinois succeeded John Powers Crowley | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Hart was assigned 3,884 district-court cases (1977–2020). Median time from filing to termination: 144 days across 3,882 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 76 of Hart’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 51 were affirmed, 20 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, Hart authored 238 published opinions for the court (1982–2011). Most cited: Mojica v. Gannett Co., Inc. (77 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Mojica v. Gannett Co., Inc. | 779 F. Supp. 94 | 77 |
| 1983 | Gordon v. Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. | 562 F. Supp. 1286 | 73 |
| 1984 | Clinton v. Janger | 583 F. Supp. 284 | 57 |
| 2003 | Fenje v. Feld | 301 F. Supp. 2d 781 | 43 |
| 1990 | In Re ContiCommodity Services, Inc., Securities Litigation | 733 F. Supp. 1555 | 36 |
| 2007 | Molina v. First Line Solutions LLC | 566 F. Supp. 2d 770 | 35 |
| 1988 | Mid-State Fertilizer Co. v. Exchange National Bank of Chicago | 693 F. Supp. 666 | 35 |
| 1991 | Dugan v. Nickla | 763 F. Supp. 981 | 34 |
| 1985 | Kallen v. Litas | 47 B.R. 977 | 34 |
| 1985 | Electronics Relays (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Pascente | 610 F. Supp. 648 | 33 |
| 1985 | UNR Industries, Inc. v. Continental Insurance | 623 F. Supp. 1319 | 31 |
| 1983 | In Re UNR Industries, Inc. | 29 B.R. 741 | 31 |
| 1998 | McCaleb v. Pizza Hut of America, Inc. | 28 F. Supp. 2d 1043 | 29 |
| 1993 | Czajkowski v. City of Chicago, Ill. | 810 F. Supp. 1428 | 28 |
| 1984 | UNR Industries, Inc. v. Continental Insurance | 607 F. Supp. 855 | 28 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 238 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 Thomas Hart?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed William Thomas Hart to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1982.
- Was William Thomas Hart appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Thomas Hart was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Thomas Hart's confirmation vote?
- William Thomas Hart was confirmed by voice vote on April 20, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William Thomas Hart on?
- William Thomas Hart was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (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.
40 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).