Willie Louis Sands
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Willie Louis Sands is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. He earned a law degree from Mercer University School of Law in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Mercer 1971 · Mercer Law 1974
- Succeeded by
- Leslie Abrams Gardner
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Middle District of Georgia | 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
| Mercer University | B.A. | 1971 |
| Mercer University School of Law | J.D. | 1974 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Sands was assigned 6,011 district-court cases (1968–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 264 days across 5,660 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 296 of Sands’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 255 were affirmed, 28 reversed or vacated, and 13 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, Sands authored 31 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: McNair v. Monsanto Co. (23 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | McNair v. Monsanto Co. | 279 F. Supp. 2d 1290 | 23 |
| 1999 | Thomas v. Rehabilitation Services of Columbus, Inc. | 45 F. Supp. 2d 1375 | 14 |
| 1998 | Herman v. Suwannee Swifty Stores, Inc. | 19 F. Supp. 2d 1365 | 11 |
| 2010 | United States v. Williams | 722 F. Supp. 2d 1313 | 5 |
| 1999 | Hill v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America | 93 F. Supp. 2d 1375 | 5 |
| 1999 | Murray v. John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital, Inc. | 50 F. Supp. 2d 1368 | 5 |
| 1998 | Miller v. BOARD OF COM'RS OF MILLER COUNTY | 45 F. Supp. 2d 1369 | 5 |
| 1996 | Jones v. New England Life Insurance | 974 F. Supp. 1476 | 5 |
| 2010 | Palmyra Park Hospital, Inc. v. Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Inc. | 688 F. Supp. 2d 1356 | 3 |
| 1995 | Hatmaker v. Georgia Department of Transportation Ex Rel. Shackelford | 973 F. Supp. 1047 | 3 |
| 2011 | Federal Trade Commission v. Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. | 793 F. Supp. 2d 1356 | 2 |
| 2009 | United States v. Blanchard | 636 F. Supp. 2d 1339 | 2 |
| 2005 | Jones v. Pandey | 390 F. Supp. 2d 1371 | 2 |
| 2005 | Roberts v. Jones | 390 F. Supp. 2d 1333 | 2 |
| 1998 | Jackson v. CITY OF ALBANY, GEORGIA | 49 F. Supp. 2d 1374 | 2 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 31 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 Willie Louis Sands?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Willie Louis Sands to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in 1994.
- Was Willie Louis Sands appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Willie Louis Sands was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Willie Louis Sands's confirmation vote?
- Willie Louis Sands was confirmed by voice vote on May 6, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Willie Louis Sands on?
- Willie Louis Sands is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- 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.
32 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).