William M. Nickerson
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, William M. Nickerson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He earned a law degree from University of Maryland School of Law (now Francis King Carey School of Law) in 1962. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1933 · age 93
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1990
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Virginia 1955 · University of Maryland Law (now Francis King Carey School of Law) 1962
- Succeeded
- Herbert Frazier Murray
- Succeeded by
- William D. Quarles Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | District of Maryland succeeded Herbert Frazier Murray | G.H.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
| University of Virginia | B.A. | 1955 |
| University of Maryland School of Law (now Francis King Carey School of Law) | LL.B. | 1962 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Nickerson was assigned 5,759 district-court cases (1985–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 182 days across 5,759 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 153 of Nickerson’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 137 were affirmed, 11 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, Nickerson authored 118 published opinions for the court (1990–2011). Most cited: Lynch v. Vanderhoef Builders (279 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Lynch v. Vanderhoef Builders | 237 F. Supp. 2d 615 | 279 |
| 1996 | Crosten v. Kamauf | 932 F. Supp. 676 | 90 |
| 2005 | Hoffman v. Baltimore Police Dept. | 379 F. Supp. 2d 778 | 55 |
| 2009 | Petry v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. | 597 F. Supp. 2d 558 | 49 |
| 2006 | Robinson v. Fountainhead Title Group Corp. | 447 F. Supp. 2d 478 | 43 |
| 2002 | Government of Egypt Procurement Office v. M/V Robert E. Lee | 216 F. Supp. 2d 468 | 42 |
| 2009 | RaceRedi Motorsports, LLC v. Dart MacHinery, Ltd. | 640 F. Supp. 2d 660 | 39 |
| 1993 | In Re Hollis | 150 B.R. 145 | 37 |
| 2005 | Hill v. Brush Engineered Materials, Inc. | 383 F. Supp. 2d 814 | 36 |
| 1990 | Raley v. Board of St. Mary's County Commissioners | 752 F. Supp. 1272 | 36 |
| 2005 | Rogers v. Savings First Mortgage, LLC | 362 F. Supp. 2d 624 | 30 |
| 2002 | Giannaris v. Cheng | 219 F. Supp. 2d 687 | 25 |
| 2000 | Heath v. Perdue Farms, Inc. | 87 F. Supp. 2d 452 | 21 |
| 1991 | Boarman v. Sullivan | 769 F. Supp. 904 | 21 |
| 1991 | United States v. Azrael | 765 F. Supp. 1239 | 21 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 118 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 M. Nickerson?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed William M. Nickerson to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 1990.
- Was William M. Nickerson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William M. Nickerson was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William M. Nickerson's confirmation vote?
- William M. Nickerson was confirmed by voice vote on May 11, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William M. Nickerson on?
- William M. Nickerson is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of Maryland (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.
36 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).