Northern District of Georgia / Appointed 1970 / Served to 2017

William Clark O'Kelley

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 and confirmed by voice vote, William Clark O'Kelley was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He earned a law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1953. Sources ↓

Lived
1930–2017
Appointed by
Richard M. Nixon, 1970
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Emory 1951 · Emory Law 1953
Succeeded by
Richard W. Story

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1970Northern District of GeorgiaNixon (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, O'Kelley was assigned 5,601 district-court cases (1981–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 230 days across 5,601 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas25%
Civil rights18%
Contract13%
Personal-injury torts9%
Social Security8%
Other federal statutes7%
Other20%

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 216 of O'Kelley’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 187 were affirmed, 18 reversed or vacated, and 11 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.

Questions & answers

Who appointed William Clark O'Kelley?
President Richard M. Nixon appointed William Clark O'Kelley to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in 1970.
Was William Clark O'Kelley appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
William Clark O'Kelley was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was William Clark O'Kelley's confirmation vote?
William Clark O'Kelley was confirmed by voice vote on October 13, 1970. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was William Clark O'Kelley on?
William Clark O'Kelley was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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