Zita Leeson Weinshienk
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Zita Leeson Weinshienk was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. She earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1933–2022
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Arizona 1955 · Harvard Law School 1958
- Succeeded by
- Robert E. Blackburn
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | District of Colorado | Carter (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
| University of Arizona | B.A. | 1955 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Weinshienk was assigned 8,474 district-court cases (1979–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 119 days across 8,470 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 160 of Weinshienk’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 152 were affirmed, 4 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Weinshienk authored 78 published opinions for the court (1980–2011). Most cited: Cudahy Co. v. Ragnar Benson, 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Cudahy Co. v. Ragnar Benson, Inc. | 514 F. Supp. 1212 | 30 |
| 1985 | In Re Silver | 46 B.R. 772 | 26 |
| 1997 | Jurado-Gutierrez v. Greene | 977 F. Supp. 1089 | 24 |
| 1982 | Commercial Union Insurance v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 546 F. Supp. 543 | 20 |
| 1990 | Renaud v. Martin Marietta Corp. | 749 F. Supp. 1545 | 19 |
| 1982 | Gelman v. Department of Education | 544 F. Supp. 651 | 19 |
| 1985 | Bernstein v. R.C. Williams, Inc. (In Re Rocky Mountain Trucking Co.) | 47 B.R. 1020 | 17 |
| 2001 | Merritt v. Hawk | 153 F. Supp. 2d 1216 | 16 |
| 1994 | United States v. Broderick Investment Co. | 862 F. Supp. 272 | 15 |
| 1993 | Zeman v. Babbin (In Re Babbin) | 160 B.R. 848 | 14 |
| 1988 | Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Bowen | 680 F. Supp. 1465 | 14 |
| 1984 | Bolduc v. Bailey | 586 F. Supp. 896 | 14 |
| 1984 | Zimmerman v. Starnes | 35 B.R. 1018 | 14 |
| 1993 | Roberts v. Colorado State University | 814 F. Supp. 1507 | 12 |
| 1984 | Wieser v. Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. | 596 F. Supp. 1473 | 12 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 78 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 Zita Leeson Weinshienk?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Zita Leeson Weinshienk to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in 1979.
- Was Zita Leeson Weinshienk appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Zita Leeson Weinshienk was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Zita Leeson Weinshienk's confirmation vote?
- Zita Leeson Weinshienk was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Zita Leeson Weinshienk on?
- Zita Leeson Weinshienk was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).