Eastern District of Pennsylvania / Appointed 1991 / Served to 2026

William Hendricks Yohn Jr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, William Hendricks Yohn Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1935–2026
Appointed by
George H.W. Bush, 1991
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Princeton 1957 · Yale Law School 1960
Succeeded by
Gene E.K. Pratter

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1991Eastern District of PennsylvaniaG.H.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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Yohn was assigned 4,728 district-court cases (1985–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 214 days across 4,724 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts30%
Contract16%
Civil rights15%
Prisoner & habeas13%
Other federal statutes7%
Labor & ERISA6%
Other13%

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 99 of Yohn’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 88 were affirmed, 10 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Yohn authored 95 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Seldon v. Home Loan Services, Inc. (62 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
2009Seldon v. Home Loan Services, Inc.647 F. Supp. 2d 45162
1997Lachance v. Harrington965 F. Supp. 63045
2009Ray v. Astrue649 F. Supp. 2d 39144
1994Ogletree v. Barnes851 F. Supp. 18441
2010Myers v. Garfield & Johnson Enterprises, Inc.679 F. Supp. 2d 59833
2008Krajewski v. American Honda Finance Corp.557 F. Supp. 2d 59629
1993Reading Co. v. City of Philadelphia823 F. Supp. 121828
1994In Re Orfa Corp. of Philadelphia170 B.R. 25726
2001In Re Eric J. Blatstein 718 Arch Street Associates, Ltd. v. Blatstein260 B.R. 69823
2011Olick v. Kearney (In Re Olick)466 B.R. 68021
2010TriState HVAC Equipment, LLP v. Big Belly Solar, Inc.752 F. Supp. 2d 51720
1996Nelson v. Temple University920 F. Supp. 63320
2001In Re Providian Financial Corp. Securities Litigation152 F. Supp. 2d 81419
1994Modern Mailers, Inc. v. Johnson & Quin, Inc.844 F. Supp. 104819
1993Mulholland v. Kerns822 F. Supp. 116118

Showing the 15 most-cited of 95 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 Hendricks Yohn Jr.?
President George H.W. Bush appointed William Hendricks Yohn Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1991.
Was William Hendricks Yohn Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
William Hendricks Yohn Jr. was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was William Hendricks Yohn Jr.'s confirmation vote?
William Hendricks Yohn Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 12, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was William Hendricks Yohn Jr. on?
William Hendricks Yohn Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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