William Byrd Traxler Jr.
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, William Byrd Traxler Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of South Carolina School of Law in 1973. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1948 · age 78
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Davidson College 1970 · University of South Carolina Law 1973
- Succeeded
- Donald Stuart Russell
- Succeeded by
- A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | District of South Carolina succeeded Clyde H. Hamilton | G.H.W. Bush (R) | Voice vote |
| 1998 | Fourth Circuit succeeded Donald Stuart Russell | Clinton (D) | 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
| Davidson College | B.A. | 1970 |
| University of South Carolina School of Law | J.D. | 1973 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Traxler was assigned 2,431 district-court cases (1988–1998). Median time from filing to termination: 253 days across 2,430 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.
In our data, Traxler authored 15 published opinions for the court (1992–1999). Most cited: Myrtle Beach Pipeline Corp. v. Emerson Electric Co. (58 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Myrtle Beach Pipeline Corp. v. Emerson Electric Co. | 843 F. Supp. 1027 | 58 |
| 1992 | Rhodes v. County of Darlington, SC | 833 F. Supp. 1163 | 35 |
| 1994 | Richland-Lexington Airport District v. Atlas Properties, Inc. | 854 F. Supp. 400 | 31 |
| 1997 | Phillips v. Anderson County School District Five | 987 F. Supp. 488 | 12 |
| 1999 | Greenville Women's Clinic v. Bryant | 66 F. Supp. 2d 691 | 11 |
| 1996 | Hindman v. Greenville Hosp. Sys. | 947 F. Supp. 215 | 10 |
| 1992 | Wingard v. Exxon Co., U.S.A. | 819 F. Supp. 497 | 8 |
| 1995 | Mincey v. United States Postal Service | 879 F. Supp. 567 | 6 |
| 1996 | Trident Regional Health Sys. v. Polin | 948 F. Supp. 509 | 5 |
| 1996 | Laidlaw Environmental Servs., (TOC), Inc. v. Honeywell, Inc. | 966 F. Supp. 1401 | 4 |
| 1998 | Carriage Town, Inc. v. LandCo, Inc. | 998 F. Supp. 646 | 2 |
| 1993 | Knight v. American National Fire Insurance | 831 F. Supp. 1284 | 2 |
| 1993 | Hall v. Marion School District No. 2 | 860 F. Supp. 278 | 2 |
| 1992 | Sharpe v. Long | 842 F. Supp. 197 | 1 |
| 1992 | Tolleson v. Educational Testing Service | 832 F. Supp. 158 | 1 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 15 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 Byrd Traxler Jr.?
- President William J. Clinton appointed William Byrd Traxler Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1998.
- Was William Byrd Traxler Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Byrd Traxler Jr. was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Byrd Traxler Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- William Byrd Traxler Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 28, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William Byrd Traxler Jr. on?
- William Byrd Traxler Jr. is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- 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.
27 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).