Who appointed William J. Rea?

President Ronald Reagan appointed William J. Rea to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1984.

Was William J. Rea appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

William J. Rea was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was William J. Rea's confirmation vote?

William J. Rea was confirmed by voice vote on June 15, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Central District of California / Appointed 1984 / Served to 2005

William J. Rea

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and confirmed by voice vote, William J. Rea was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned a law degree from University of Colorado Law School in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1920–2005
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1984
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Loyola of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University) 1942 · University of Colorado Law School 1949
Succeeded: Malcolm Millar Lucas
Succeeded by: David O. Carter

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1984	Central District of California succeeded Malcolm Millar Lucas	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

Loyola University of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University)	B.A.	1942
University of Colorado Law School	LL.B.	1949

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Rea was assigned 3,014 district-court cases (1973–2005). Median time from filing to termination: 250 days across 3,014 closed cases.

Contract19%

Prisoner & habeas16%

Civil rights13%

Labor & ERISA10%

Intellectual property10%

Personal-injury torts9%

Other23%

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.

In our data, Rea authored 55 published opinions for the court (1985–2005). Most cited: Marksman Partners, L.P. v. Chantal Pharmaceutical Corp. (125 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
1996	Marksman Partners, L.P. v. Chantal Pharmaceutical Corp.	927 F. Supp. 1297	125
1996	Esquivel v. Arau	913 F. Supp. 1382	49
2005	Mujica v. Occidental Petroleum Corp.	381 F. Supp. 2d 1164	37
1987	Motown Record Corp. v. George A. Hormel & Co.	657 F. Supp. 1236	29
1989	Walbrook Ins. Co. Ltd. v. Goshgarian & Goshgarian	726 F. Supp. 777	26
1992	Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. McDonnell Douglas Corp.	820 F. Supp. 503	24
1993	Wholesale & Retail Food Distribution Local 63 v. Santa Fe Terminal Services, Inc.	826 F. Supp. 326	22
1987	Contemporary Services Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc.	655 F. Supp. 885	17
1993	Allen v. Academic Games Leagues of America, Inc.	831 F. Supp. 785	16
1996	Kotev v. First Colony Life Insurance	927 F. Supp. 1316	15
2004	Loree Rodkin Management Corp. v. Ross-Simons, Inc.	315 F. Supp. 2d 1053	14
2002	Lozano v. AT & T WIRELESS	216 F. Supp. 2d 1071	14
1994	L.A. Gear, Inc. v. E.S. Originals, Inc.	859 F. Supp. 1294	14
2005	Mujica v. Occidental Petroleum Corp.	381 F. Supp. 2d 1134	10
1996	Di Giorgio v. Lee (In Re Di Giorgio)	200 B.R. 664	10

Showing the 15 most-cited of 55 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 J. Rea?: President Ronald Reagan appointed William J. Rea to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1984.
Was William J. Rea appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: William J. Rea was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was William J. Rea's confirmation vote?: William J. Rea was confirmed by voice vote on June 15, 1984. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was William J. Rea on?: William J. Rea was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

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