William Paul Johnson
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and confirmed by voice vote, William Paul Johnson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1985. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1959 · age 67
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2001
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Virginia Military Institute 1981 · Washington and Lee Law 1985
- Succeeded
- John Edwards Conway
- Succeeded by
- Sarah Morgan Davenport
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | District of New Mexico succeeded John Edwards Conway | G.W. Bush (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, Johnson was assigned 1,976 district-court cases (1966–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 248 days across 1,786 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 170 of Johnson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 133 were affirmed, 15 reversed or vacated, and 22 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, Johnson authored 40 published opinions for the court (2002–2011). Most cited: United States v. Taylor (32 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | United States v. Taylor | 663 F. Supp. 2d 1170 | 32 |
| 2008 | Vasquez v. Americano U.S.A., LLC | 536 F. Supp. 2d 1253 | 21 |
| 2006 | Pueblo of Zuni v. United States | 467 F. Supp. 2d 1099 | 13 |
| 2010 | United States Ex Rel. Baker v. Community Health Systems Inc. | 709 F. Supp. 2d 1084 | 12 |
| 2002 | Federal Express Corp. v. United States | 228 F. Supp. 2d 1267 | 10 |
| 2007 | Southern Ute Indian Tribe v. Leavitt | 497 F. Supp. 2d 1245 | 8 |
| 2003 | Trujillo v. United States | 313 F. Supp. 2d 1146 | 8 |
| 2007 | Smith v. Cutler | 504 F. Supp. 2d 1162 | 7 |
| 2007 | Brown v. Mahdi | 482 F. Supp. 2d 1300 | 7 |
| 2005 | United States v. Begay | 377 F. Supp. 2d 1141 | 6 |
| 2004 | In Re the Extradition of Chan Seong-I | 346 F. Supp. 2d 1149 | 6 |
| 2011 | Moreno v. Taos County Board of Commissioners | 778 F. Supp. 2d 1139 | 5 |
| 2003 | Cordova v. Peavey Co. | 273 F. Supp. 2d 1213 | 5 |
| 2010 | Cruse v. St. Vincent Hospital | 729 F. Supp. 2d 1269 | 4 |
| 2009 | United States v. Taylor | 704 F. Supp. 2d 1192 | 4 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 40 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 Paul Johnson?
- President George W. Bush appointed William Paul Johnson to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico in 2001.
- Was William Paul Johnson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Paul Johnson was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Paul Johnson's confirmation vote?
- William Paul Johnson was confirmed by voice vote on December 13, 2001. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William Paul Johnson on?
- William Paul Johnson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
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.
24 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).