Quick facts
Court U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Position circuit
Status Retired 1991
Served 1982–1991
Appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
Commissioned 1982-10-01
Education North Texas State College (B.A., 1949); Baylor University School of Law (attended); South Texas College of Law (law degree)
Signed orders read 25
Last updated 2026-07-20
Motion outcomes
AppealN = 17
counts only
2 1 14
Petition for reviewN = 9
counts only
1 7 1
Counted from classified signed orders. A “1 of 1” is one ruling, not a tendency.
About this data
A free Ezel research resource. This profile is built from public records: the judge's own signed orders, public docket records, and published biographies. It is not legal advice and is not affiliated with the court.
How Judge Baldwin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
He treated objective indicia as protection against hindsight in the patent-obviousness analysis.
“The “secondary” considerations, when present, may assist the court in determining nonobviousness without falling prey to hindsight reasoning.”
He read a personnel settlement to require restoration of the employee’s position as nearly as practicable, including fees tied to enforcing one entitlement.
“In our view it would be unreasonable to read the agreement in a manner so narrow as to defeat the intent of the parties.”
He strictly enforced the filing conditions attached to the government’s waiver of sovereign immunity.
“Conditions upon which the government consents to be sued must be strictly observed and are not subject to implied exceptions.”
He looked for evidence that the person with settlement authority had actually reviewed and approved the alleged agreement.
“The letter seems to identify Sun Studs’ president, Sohn, as the party with authority to execute a settlement agreement but notes that Sohn had not even seen the outline.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. United States
· 1986-07-15
Appeal (United States)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Appeal (Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company)
Denied
Mast Industries, Inc. v. United States
· 1986-04-01
Appeal (United States)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Affiliated FM Insurance Co. v. United States
· 1986-02-14
Appeal (Affiliated FM Insurance Company and Fiat Motors of North America, Inc.)
Denied
“We affirm on the basis of that opinion.”
Noss Co. v. United States
· 1985-01-30
Appeal (Noss Company)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Denen v. Buss
· 1986-09-16
Petition for review (Dennis J. Denen)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Asea, Inc. v. United States
· 1984-11-21
Appeal (Asea, Inc.)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
NEC America, Inc. v. United States
· 1985-05-08
Appeal (NEC America, Inc.)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
NEC Corp. v. United States
· 1986-11-28
Appeal (NEC Corporation)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Atlas Powder Co. v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
· 1984-12-27
Appeal (E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and Alamo Explosives Company, Inc.)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Nichimen Co. v. United States
· 1984-02-14
Appeal (Nichimen Co., Inc.)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Coleman v. United States Secret Service
· 1984-12-10
Petition for review (Dejustice Coleman)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
White v. United States Postal Service
· 1985-07-25
Petition for review (Harold G. White)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Baldwin no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.