Who appointed William H. Steele?

President George W. Bush appointed William H. Steele to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 2003.

Was William H. Steele appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

William H. Steele 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 H. Steele's confirmation vote?

William H. Steele was confirmed by voice vote on March 13, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of Alabama / Appointed 2003 / Senior status since 2017

William H. Steele

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by voice vote, William H. Steele is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. He earned a law degree from University of Alabama School of Law in 1980. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1951 · age 75
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2003
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Southern Mississippi 1972 · University of Alabama Law 1980
Succeeded: Richard W. Vollmer Jr.
Succeeded by: Terry Fitzgerald Moorer

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2003	Southern District of Alabama succeeded Richard W. Vollmer Jr.	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

University of Southern Mississippi	B.A.	1972
University of Alabama School of Law	J.D.	1980

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Steele was assigned 2,271 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 202 days across 2,197 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas20%

Contract18%

Civil rights14%

Personal-injury torts13%

Other civil matters8%

Other federal statutes8%

Other19%

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 226 of Steele’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 200 were affirmed, 19 reversed or vacated, and 7 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, Steele authored 111 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: Longcrier v. HL-A CO., INC. (96 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	Longcrier v. HL-A CO., INC.	595 F. Supp. 2d 1218	96
2009	Jackson v. Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc.	651 F. Supp. 2d 1279	94
2007	Gipson v. Mattox	511 F. Supp. 2d 1182	48
2010	PNCEF, LLC v. Hendricks Building Supply LLC	740 F. Supp. 2d 1287	43
2007	Capitol Records v. Rita Carmichael	508 F. Supp. 2d 1079	41
2007	Virgin Records America, Inc. v. Lacey	510 F. Supp. 2d 588	29
2006	Lexington Insurance v. Rolison	434 F. Supp. 2d 1228	25
2005	Gougler v. Sirius Products, Inc.	370 F. Supp. 2d 1185	25
2008	Taylor v. Holiday Isle, LLC	561 F. Supp. 2d 1269	24
2007	Preis v. Lexington Insurance	508 F. Supp. 2d 1061	22
2003	United States Aviation Underwriters, Inc. v. Yellow Freight System, Inc.	296 F. Supp. 2d 1322	20
2010	Sua Insurance v. Classic Home Builders, LLC	751 F. Supp. 2d 1245	19
2009	Murray v. Holiday Isle, LLC	620 F. Supp. 2d 1302	19
2010	Page v. Winn-Dixie Montgomery, Inc.	702 F. Supp. 2d 1334	18
2007	Kerns v. Pro-Foam of South Alabama, Inc.	572 F. Supp. 2d 1303	18

Showing the 15 most-cited of 111 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 H. Steele?: President George W. Bush appointed William H. Steele to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 2003.
Was William H. Steele appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: William H. Steele 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 H. Steele's confirmation vote?: William H. Steele was confirmed by voice vote on March 13, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is William H. Steele on?: William H. Steele is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

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.

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