William Joseph Haynes Jr.
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1999 and confirmed by voice vote, William Joseph Haynes Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1999
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- College of St. Thomas 1970 · Vanderbilt Law School 1973
- Succeeded
- Thomas Aquinas Higgins
- Succeeded by
- Waverly David Crenshaw Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Middle District of Tennessee succeeded Thomas Aquinas Higgins | 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
| College of St. Thomas | B.A. | 1970 |
| Vanderbilt University Law School | J.D. | 1973 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Haynes was assigned 4,115 district-court cases (1986–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 212 days across 4,115 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 326 of Haynes’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 255 were affirmed, 47 reversed or vacated, and 24 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, Haynes authored 46 published opinions for the court (2000–2011). Most cited: Cowan v. Treetop Enterprises, Inc. (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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Cowan v. Treetop Enterprises, Inc. | 163 F. Supp. 2d 930 | 16 |
| 2010 | Smith v. C.R. Bard, Inc. | 730 F. Supp. 2d 783 | 15 |
| 2008 | As You Sow v. AIG Financial Advisors, Inc. | 584 F. Supp. 2d 1034 | 12 |
| 2003 | Dudley's Commercial & Industrial Coating, Inc. v. United States Internal Revenue Service | 292 F. Supp. 2d 976 | 11 |
| 2002 | Gaylord Entertainment Co. v. Gilmore Entertainment Group, LLC. | 187 F. Supp. 2d 926 | 11 |
| 2000 | United States Ex Rel. Augustine v. Century Health Services, Inc. | 136 F. Supp. 2d 876 | 11 |
| 2009 | Energy Automation Systems, Inc. v. Saxton | 618 F. Supp. 2d 807 | 8 |
| 2000 | Katt v. Titan Acquisitions, Ltd. | 133 F. Supp. 2d 632 | 8 |
| 2006 | Buchanan v. Williams | 434 F. Supp. 2d 521 | 7 |
| 2011 | Jones v. United States | 789 F. Supp. 2d 883 | 6 |
| 2010 | Libertarian Party of Tennessee v. Goins | 793 F. Supp. 2d 1064 | 6 |
| 2010 | United States Ex Rel. Wall v. Circle Construction, LLC | 700 F. Supp. 2d 926 | 6 |
| 2000 | Sherwood v. Microsoft Corp. | 91 F. Supp. 2d 1196 | 6 |
| 2009 | Hall v. WAL-MART STORES EAST, LP. | 637 F. Supp. 2d 588 | 5 |
| 2008 | Hodges v. Bell | 548 F. Supp. 2d 485 | 5 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 46 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 Joseph Haynes Jr.?
- President William J. Clinton appointed William Joseph Haynes Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in 1999.
- Was William Joseph Haynes Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Joseph Haynes 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 Joseph Haynes Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- William Joseph Haynes Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on November 10, 1999. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William Joseph Haynes Jr. on?
- William Joseph Haynes Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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 Middle District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).