Who appointed William Jay Riley?

President George W. Bush appointed William Jay Riley to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 2001.

Was William Jay Riley appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

William Jay Riley 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 Jay Riley's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed William Jay Riley 97–0 on August 2, 2001.

Eighth Circuit / Appointed 2001 / Served to 2023

William Jay Riley

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and confirmed by the Senate 97–0, William Jay Riley was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Nebraska College of Law in 1972. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1947–2023
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2001
Confirmed: 97–0
Education: University of Nebraska 1969 · University of Nebraska College of Law 1972
Succeeded: Clarence Arlen Beam
Succeeded by: Leonard Steven Grasz

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2001	Eighth Circuit succeeded Clarence Arlen Beam	G.W. Bush (R)	97–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 97–0 on August 2, 2001 · 107th Congress, Roll Call 270. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 97

49 D, 47 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 3

1 D, 2 R

Education

University of Nebraska	B.A.	1969
University of Nebraska College of Law	J.D.	1972

Judicial Record

In our data, Riley authored 71 published opinions for the court (2007–2011). Most cited: Hurd v. Astrue (577 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2010	Hurd v. Astrue	621 F.3d 734	577
2010	Vossen v. Astrue	612 F.3d 1011	317
2010	Johnson v. Arden	614 F.3d 785	247
2010	Blankenship v. USA Truck, Inc.	601 F.3d 852	241
2010	Anderson v. Durham D & M, L.L.C.	606 F.3d 513	227
2010	Marshall v. Baggett	616 F.3d 849	199
2010	Mills v. City of Grand Forks	614 F.3d 495	136
2010	Morris v. ZEFFERI	601 F.3d 805	136
2010	Chorosevic v. MetLife Choices	600 F.3d 934	115
2010	In Re Baycol Products Litigation	616 F.3d 778	98
2010	Scottsdale Insurance v. Universal Crop Protection Alliance, LLC	620 F.3d 926	89
2010	Brown v. Astrue	611 F.3d 941	88
2010	Fisher v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.	619 F.3d 811	78
2008	Hinsley Ex Rel. K.M. v. Standing Rock Child Protective Services	516 F.3d 668	74
2010	TROOIEN v. Mansour	608 F.3d 1020	73

Showing the 15 most-cited of 71 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 Jay Riley?: President George W. Bush appointed William Jay Riley to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 2001.
Was William Jay Riley appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: William Jay Riley 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 Jay Riley's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed William Jay Riley 97–0 on August 2, 2001.
Which court was William Jay Riley on?: William Jay Riley was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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