William Donald Stiehl
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, William Donald Stiehl was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He earned a law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1925–2016
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1986
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- St. Louis Law 1949
- Succeeded by
- G. Patrick Murphy
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Southern District of Illinois | 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
| St. Louis University School of Law | LL.B. | 1949 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Stiehl was assigned 3,871 district-court cases (1980–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 252 days across 3,871 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 30 of Stiehl’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 24 were affirmed, 4 reversed or vacated, and 2 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, Stiehl authored 43 published opinions for the court (1986–2011). Most cited: Baxter v. City of Belleville, Ill. (55 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Baxter v. City of Belleville, Ill. | 720 F. Supp. 720 | 55 |
| 1991 | Ekeke v. United States | 133 B.R. 450 | 21 |
| 1998 | Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. v. Shierk | 996 F. Supp. 836 | 13 |
| 1994 | Jones v. Welborn | 877 F. Supp. 1214 | 12 |
| 1994 | United States v. $10,000.00 in United States Funds | 863 F. Supp. 812 | 12 |
| 1994 | Haas v. Group Health Plan, Inc. | 875 F. Supp. 544 | 11 |
| 1996 | United States v. Zeigler Coal Holding Co. | 934 F. Supp. 292 | 8 |
| 1992 | Small v. Sullivan | 820 F. Supp. 1098 | 6 |
| 1990 | Mays Towing Co. v. Universal MacHinery Co. | 755 F. Supp. 830 | 6 |
| 1988 | Matta-Ballesteros Ex Rel. Stolar v. Henman | 697 F. Supp. 1036 | 6 |
| 1987 | Hess v. Missouri Pacific Railroad | 657 F. Supp. 1066 | 6 |
| 1994 | Pratt, Bradford & Tobin, P.C. v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co. | 885 F. Supp. 1126 | 5 |
| 1987 | United States v. Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc. | 663 F. Supp. 538 | 5 |
| 1993 | Pitchford v. Aladdin Steel, Inc. | 828 F. Supp. 610 | 4 |
| 1988 | Matta-Ballesteros Ex Rel. Stolar v. Henman | 697 F. Supp. 1040 | 4 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 43 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 Donald Stiehl?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed William Donald Stiehl to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in 1986.
- Was William Donald Stiehl appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Donald Stiehl was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Donald Stiehl's confirmation vote?
- William Donald Stiehl was confirmed by voice vote on June 13, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William Donald Stiehl on?
- William Donald Stiehl was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
29 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).