William Keith Watkins
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 and confirmed by voice vote, William Keith Watkins is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. He earned a law degree from University of Alabama School of Law in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2005
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Auburn 1973 · University of Alabama Law 1976
- Succeeded
- William Harold Albritton III
- Succeeded by
- R. Austin Huffaker Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Middle District of Alabama succeeded William Harold Albritton III | 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
| Auburn University | B.S. | 1973 |
| University of Alabama School of Law | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Watkins was assigned 2,277 district-court cases (1990–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 248 days across 2,070 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 248 of Watkins’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 223 were affirmed, 22 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Watkins authored 39 published opinions for the court (2006–2011). Most cited: Alfa Corp. v. Alfa Mortgage Inc. (30 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Alfa Corp. v. Alfa Mortgage Inc. | 560 F. Supp. 2d 1166 | 30 |
| 2010 | Hope for Families & Community Service, Inc. v. Warren | 721 F. Supp. 2d 1079 | 21 |
| 2011 | Powell v. Thomas | 784 F. Supp. 2d 1270 | 19 |
| 2007 | McLaney v. Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (In Re McLaney) | 375 B.R. 666 | 17 |
| 2010 | Borton v. City of Dothan | 734 F. Supp. 2d 1237 | 16 |
| 2007 | Pearson's Pharmacy, Inc. v. Express Scripts, Inc. | 505 F. Supp. 2d 1272 | 12 |
| 2009 | Long v. ARONOV REALTY MANAGEMENT, INC. | 645 F. Supp. 2d 1008 | 11 |
| 2009 | Byrne v. Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board | 635 F. Supp. 2d 1281 | 7 |
| 2008 | Baker v. Tri Nations Express, Inc. | 531 F. Supp. 2d 1307 | 7 |
| 2011 | Cook v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | 795 F. Supp. 2d 1269 | 6 |
| 2009 | Hall v. Thomas | 623 F. Supp. 2d 1302 | 6 |
| 2009 | Camp v. CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL SERVICES, INC. | 668 F. Supp. 2d 1338 | 5 |
| 2007 | Grayson v. Allen | 499 F. Supp. 2d 1228 | 5 |
| 2007 | State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Causey | 509 F. Supp. 2d 1026 | 5 |
| 2009 | Ogletree v. City of Auburn | 619 F. Supp. 2d 1152 | 4 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 39 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 Keith Watkins?
- President George W. Bush appointed William Keith Watkins to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in 2005.
- Was William Keith Watkins appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Keith Watkins 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 Keith Watkins's confirmation vote?
- William Keith Watkins was confirmed by voice vote on December 21, 2005. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William Keith Watkins on?
- William Keith Watkins is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (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.
20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).