United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

• Court
• Judges

Southern District of New York Second Circuit Chief: Loretta Preska Judges: 25 Posts: 28 Vacancies: 3 Active judges Abrams • Briccetti • Carter, Jr. • Castel • Crotty • Daniels • Engelmayer • Failla • Forrest • Furman • Gardephe • Karas • Koeltl • McMahon • Nathan • Oetken • Pauley • Ramos • Roman • Schofield • Seibel • Sullivan • Swain • Torres Senior Judges Baer • Batts • Berman • Buchwald • Carter • Cote • Cedarbaum • Conner • Griesa • Haight • Hellerstein • Kaplan • Keenan • Kram • Lasker • Leisure • Marrero • McKenna • Owen • Patterson • Rakoff • Sand • Scheindlin • Stanton • Stein • Sweet • Wood Magistrate Judges Chief Magistrate: Henry Pitman Davison • Dolinger • Eaton • Ellis • Fox • Francis • Freeman • Goldberg • Gorenstein • Katz • Maas • Peck • Smith • Yanthis Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a United States district court. The Southern District is one of the most influential and active federal district courts in the United States, largely because of its jurisdiction over New York's major financial centers.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York's vacancy warning level is currently set at yellow. The court currently has three vacancies out of their twenty-eight posts. There are three pending nominations for the district.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Southern District of New York (click for larger map)

The geographic jurisdiction of the Southern District of New York consists of all the following counties in the southern part of the state of New York. New York County Bronx County Westchester County Putnam County Rockland County Orange County Dutchess County Sullivan County

The court shares geographic jurisdiction over New York City with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which manages Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond (Staten Island) counties, along with Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current United States Attorney for the district is Michael J. Garcia. Courthouses are located in Manhattan and White Plains.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals based in Lower Manhattan at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The Southern District of New York has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)**:	Median time(Civil)**:	3 Year Civil cases#:	Vacant posts:##	Trials/Post
2010	26245	12082	38327	12262	26065	14.1	8.1	10317(44.3%)	31.9	9
2009	25998	13705	39703	12887	26816	13.0	6.4	4080(17.7%)	4.4	10
2008	24791	13703	38494	12303	26191	16.8	8.4	3385(14.8%)	19.2	12
2007	20047	17699	37746	12418	25328	18.5	9.8	2430(11.3%)	19.1	12
2006	19302	12201	31503	11339	20164	16.7	8.3	3107(18.4%)	2.0	13

*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September.    **Time in months from filing to completion. #This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts.    ##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The Southern District of New York has two separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m, though papers may be submitted after hours by using the night depository at 500 Pearl Street, Worth Street. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Courthouse	Address	Phone number
Manhattan Courthouse	Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse 500 Pearl Street New York, New York 10007	(212) 805-0136
White Plains Courthouse	Hon. Charles L. Brieant Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse 300 Quarrapos Street White Plains, New York 10601	(914) 390-4100

History

Court history

The Southern District is a successor to the original District of New York, which was split into Northern and Southern Districts on April 9, 1814. The United States District Court for the District of New York was the first District Court ever convened under the sovereignty of the United States, with Judge James Duane presiding on November 3, 1789. Over its history the court grew to 28 permanent judicial posts and 1 temporary one that remains so.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Southern District of New York:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
September 1789	1 Stat. 73	1 (District of New York)
April 9, 1814	3 Stat. 120	1 (Creation of court)
February 9, 1903	32 Stat. 805	2
May 26, 1906	34 Stat. 202	3
March 2, 1909	35 Stat. 685	4
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	4 (2 temporary)
February 26, 1929	45 Stat. 1317	7 (2 temporary)
August 19, 1935	49 Stat. 659	9
June 15, 1936	49 Stat. 1491	11
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 585	11 (1 temporary)
March 24, 1940	54 Stat. 219	11 (2 temporary)
June 8, 1940	54 Stat. 253	12 (1 temporary)
August 3, 1949	63 Stat. 493	16 (1 temporary)
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	18 (1 temporary)
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	24 (1 temporary)
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	27 (1 temporary)
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	28 (1 temporary)

Notable cases

For a list of notable decisions, please see Opinions for the Southern District of New York.

• NY City smoking deterrent posters  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff      *94th St. Grocery v. N.Y.C. Bd. of Health 11-91-cv

On July 10, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the decision of Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, ruling that federal regulations preempted a city ordinance that required cigarette distributors to post gruesome photos of cigarette related illnesses at the point of sale. The court held that the 1965 Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act preempted the local law, thus rendering the local ordinance unconstitutional. Philip Morris USA alongside 2 other manufacturers, 2 major retailers and 2 trade unions challenged this city law in federal court last year. Despite admitting the risks of smoking, Rakoff agreed with the cigarette producers, stating in his opinion, "Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law." The Second Circuit concurred, though they believed that the city could launch its own anti-smoking campaign using the images, but could not require retailers to do it. The case was heard by Judges Peter Hall, Gerard Lynch, and Denny Chin, with Chin writing the opinion of the court.

• Madoff trustees cases  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff

Judge Rakoff announced, on October 14, 2011, that he would take over a lawsuit between Irving Picard, the liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm, and 32 trustees who withdrew money before the firm's 2008 bankruptcy. Judge Rakoff took the cases after being asked by investor Gerald Blumenthal, who was being sued by Picard, whether the Madoff estate owes him the money reflected on his Madoff brokerage statements. Blumenthal was then joined by 31 other investors facing similar lawsuits, which inspired Judge Rakoff to take all the cases because of their similarity to each other.

• S&P/Moody's case  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff

Judge Rakoff ruled on June 1, 2010, that credit rating agencies like S & P and Moody's are not underwriters of securities. A group of plaintiffs sued the two credit rating agencies on claims that they used credit ratings to obtain $63 million dollars in mortgage-backed securities. The judge wrote in his ruling that the plantiffs in the case had a very broad view of what a underwriter does and found no evidence that S & P and Moody's were involved in underwriting.

• Rajaratnam wiretaps  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff

Judge Rakoff ruled on February 10, 2010 that Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam and his associates turn over wiretaps that were used in the discovery of evidence for their criminal case to be used in a civil case. The Securities and Exchange Commission asked the court for Rajaratnam to turn over the wiretaps as they have filed a civil lawsuit over insider trading charges. Judge Rakoff said in his ruling that it would be unfair to have one side have important information such as wiretaps and felt it was important for Rajaratnam and his associates to turn over the wiretaps to the SEC.

• Bank of America-SEC Settlement  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff

Judge Rakoff presided over a lawsuit between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009. The SEC alleged that Bank of America failed to disclose to investors an agreement to pay $5 billion in bonuses when they took over Merrill Lynch. On September 14, 2009, Judge Rakoff rejected the settlement deal between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The veteran judge called the settlement deal worth $33 million "unreasonable and unfair" after the two sides first agreed to settle on charges Bank of America misled investors. The judge approved the settlement between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 22, 2010. The two sides agreed to a settlement of $150 million. As part of the settlement, Bank of America also had to agree to oversight changes. Rakoff still had criticisms over the new settlement calling the agreement "half-baked justice", but said that the $150 million settlement is "better than nothing". CLICK HERE for a copy of the settlement agreement.

• SEC v. Marc S. Dreier  Judge(s):Jed Rakoff

SEC v. Marc S. Dreier, USDC, SDNY Civil Case No. 08 Civ. 10617 Judge Rakoff was the presiding judge in the case of Marc S. Dreier, a former New York City attorney who pleaded guilty to committing a securities investment fraud scheme. Dreier faced a possible prison sentence of up to 145 years. On July 13, 2009, Judge Rakoff sentenced Drier to 20 years in prison and criticized federal prosecutors that asked for a 145-year sentence. "Is the government serious about asking for 145 years? To me, for the government to ask for 145 years is to demean the sentence Judge Denny Chin imposed on Mr. Madoff," he said.

• Lil' Kim Perjury Trial  Judge(s):Gerard Lynch
Lynch presided over the perjury trial of rap artist Lil' Kim in 2005. He sentenced her to a year and a day in jail.

• Ivan Boesky case      *United States v. Boesky No. 87 Cr. 378(MEL)

Judge Lasker presided in the high profile insider trading trial of Wall Street trader Ivan Boesky in what was considered the biggest trading scandal of the 1980's. Lasker in 1987 sentenced Boesky in three years in prison after being convicted on charges of insider trading. Boesky got a lighter sentence from the judge after cooperating with federal prosecutors. In a separate civil trial, Boesky settled to pay $100 in damages.

• NYC jails      *Benjamin v. Malcolm No. 75 Civ. 3073 (MEL)

Judge Lasker will be remembered for a series of rulings in the 1970's and 1980's in which he forced New York City to change how it conducted business in its jails. During that time the Legal Aid Society of New York City filed numerous lawsuits against the City of New York for civil rights violations in the Manhattan House of Detention and Rikier's Island. The City of New York was found liable in the lawsuits after there was evidence that the jails had severe overcrowding issues that lead to numerous other problems. In one case involving Rikier's Island, the City of New York was found liable for not providing access to inmates for medical care and phone calls. Lasker in 1974 ordered The Tombs, another detention facility in Manhattan closed after Lasker found the jail also had severe overcrowding and inmates were forced to sleep on the floor, along with dealing with filthy conditions such as cockroaches and mice.

• NYC bottled water deposit  Judge(s):Deborah Batts

On October 23, 2009, Judge Batts upheld the legality of a new state law in New York that requires deposits for bottled water. Judge Batts issued an order that on October 31, 2009, there must be a five cent recycling deposit added on to the normal selling price for bottled water. Business groups in New York filed suit over the law claiming that the law violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States.

• Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc.  Judge(s):Sonia Sotomayor      *[ Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, Inc] 67 F3d 1054 (1995)

Judge Sotomayor's decision to grant a temporary injunction against the Major League Baseball owners on March 31, 1995 ended the 232-day baseball strike of 1994. The injunction prevented the owners from installing replacement players and temporarily reinstated a five-year-old collective bargaining agreement allowing the 1995 season to take place and allowing players and owners to come to a new agreement nearly a year later. Her decision was later upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

• Dow Jones v. U.S. Department of Justice  Judge(s):Sonia Sotomayor      *[ Dow Jones v. U.S. Department of Justice] 880F. Supp. 145 (1995)

In 1995, Judge Sotomayor ruled in favor of the Wall Street Journal allowing them to print a photocopy of the final note written by Clinton White House deputy counsel Vince Foster who died in 1993. While the death of Vince Foster was ruled a suicide, it remains a mystery to many and a source of many conspiracy theories. As a result, Sotomayor ruled that the "substantial" public interest in the Foster story outweighed any violation of his family's privacy.

• Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group  Judge(s):Sonia Sotomayor      *[ Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group] 150 F.3d 132 (1998)
Judge Sotomayor ruled (and was upheld on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, that SAT: The Seinfeld Aptitude Test infringed on the copyright of the television show Seinfeld. The case is often used in law schools as a modern application of the fair use doctrine.

• Tasini v. New York Times, et al  Judge(s):Sonia Sotomayor      *[ Tasini v. New York Times, et al] 972 F. Supp 804 (1997)

Sotomayor ruled in favor of the New York Times when it was sued by freelance journalists claiming the newspaper did not have the right to include their work in the electronic archival database LexisNexis. Sotomayor's decision was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and that reversal was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in a 7-2 vote (Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer dissenting).

• USA v. John Gotti, Jr.  Judge(s):Kevin Castel      *USA v. John Gotti, Jr. 8:08-cr 00312.T.23EAJ

USA v. John Gotti, Jr., Indictment under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(d) In 2009, Judge Castel presided in the Junior Gotti case on charges of conspiring and drug trafficking. This was the fourth trial of Gotti; the three previous trials ended with hung juries. On July 8, 2009 Judge Castel denied requests to throw out a racketeering indictment and grant bond to Gotti while he was awaiting trial in September of 2009. The motion was made as Gotti has had health problems, including kidney stones. Attorneys for Gotti made the request due to complaints of the lack of attention towards the issue at the correctional facility. On December 1, 2009, Judge Castel declared a mistrial in the case of John "Junior" Gotti. This happened after a jury was deadlocked for eleven days in trying to reach a verdict. It was reported that the jury could not find unanimous consent in reaching a verdict. See Generally USDOJ Indictment orig filed in USDC, MDFL USA v. John Gotti, Jr. Indictment Venue Change to USDC, SDNY New York Daily News Continuing Coverage of Gotti, Jr. Indictment

• Bristol-Meyers Plavix case  Judge(s):Paul Crotty      *Sanofi-Aventis v. Apotex Inc. No. 02 Civ. 2255 (SHS)

Judge Crotty was the presiding judge in a case involving Bristol-Meyers Squibb in a patent dispute with Canadian drug maker Apotex over the blood thinner Plavix. On August 18, 2009, Judge Crotty approved a preliminary settlement that the drug maker and their former chief executive would pay $125 million in damages to settle litigation against Aptoex. The settlement came after a 2007 case in which Bristol Meyers was fined $1 million by the Federal Trade Commission over making false statements in a failed settlement attempt with Aptoex.

• Arkansas lawyer case  Judge(s):Paul Crotty      *USA v. Cauley 1:09-cr-00551-PAC
Judge Crotty presided in the trial of former Arkansas lawyer Gene Cauley. Cauley was convicted of wire fraud and contempt of court. On November 23, 2009, Cauley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

• SEC v. Sam Israel III  Judge(s):Kenneth Karas      *SEC v. Samuel Israel III, et al. Civil Action No. 05-CIV-8376
Judge Karas sentenced a convicted hedge fund swindler, Sam Israel III, to additional prison time for failing to timely surrender to serve his prison term in an elaborate fake suicide scheme.

• Arthur Nadel criminal case  Judge(s):John Koeltl      *U.S.A. v. Nadel 09-mJ-00169
Judge Koeltl presided in the trial of hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel. Nadel was charged of securities fraud after bilking millions of dollars from investors and pleading guilty on February 24, 2010 to the charges. Nadel was sentenced to fourteen years in prison and died in April 2012 while serving it.

• Hiram Monserrate case  Judge(s):William Pauley      *Monserrate v. NEW YORK STATE SENATE 695 F. Supp. 2d 80

Judge Pauley denied an request by former New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate to stop a decision made by the New York Senate to expel him on February 9, 2010. Monserrate was expelled after being convicted of domestic violence towards his girlfriend which is considered a misdemeanor. The case was appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, but the appellate court ruled that the district court "did not abuse its discretion in determining that the Monserrate Appellants failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of any of the claims they press on appeal. We thus need not reach any of the other arguments advanced by the parties. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court's denial of the preliminary injunction."

• Dot-com collusion  Judge(s):William Pauley

Judge Pauley on March 18, 2010, ruled against striking down a regulation that prohibits collusion between investment bankers and analysts at Wall Street firms. The ruling comes after the largest firms on Wall Street in 2009 wanted a 2003 rule that prohibited unsupervised contact between investment bankers and analysts overturned. The judge emphasized in his decision that there needs to be separation between independent analysts and bankers if confidence in the markets can be improved.

• Fed Reserve disclosure  Judge(s):Loretta Preska      *Bloomberg v. Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System No. 08 Civ. 9595 (LAP)

On August 24, 2009, Judge Preska ruled that the Federal Reserve must disclose the recipients of emergency loans and aid during the economic downturn. Bloomberg News took court action after the nation's central bank refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request. According to the network, Bloomberg News hoped that if they made public the recipients of bailout money it would deter more bailout money from being handed out. As part of her order, Preska gave the Federal Reserve five days to hand over the documents. On August 28, 2009, Judge Preska delayed her order requiring the Federal Reserve to disclose bailout recipients. Preska also allowed the Fed to file an appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case was subsequently argued in front of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on January 11, 2010 and decided on March 19, 2010. The appellate court judges, Dennis Jacobs, Pierre Leval, and Peter Hall, upheld the decision reached by Judge Preska.

• NYPD mass arrests  Judge(s):Richard Sullivan      *Michael Schiller v. The City of New York, et al. 1:04-cv-07922-RJS-JCF
Judge Sullivan ordered the New York Police Department to release arrest records of 1,800 protesters arrested and detained at the 2004 Republican National Convention. This came after the New York Civil Liberties Union demanded a review of the arrest records. This ruling is another order from the judge to the New York Police to release the records.

• James Sullivan case  Judge(s):Richard Sullivan      *[ USA v. James Sullivan]
Judge Sullivan presided in the trial of hedge fund manager James Sullivan on securities fraud charges. The judge issued a notification to investors who were harmed by Sullivan that he will enter a plea agreement during the week of December 7, 2009. Sullivan was accused of cheating investors out of $150 million.

• YES Network case  Judge(s):Richard Sullivan      *Robert M. Gutkowski v. George Steinbrenner III 1:09-cv-07535-RJS

Judge Sullivan rejected a lawsuit by a former Madison Square Garden executive that claimed George Steinbrenner gave the idea for the YES Sports Network. Bob Gutkowski, who use to run the Madison Square Garden, said that he was promised compensation for helping start up the YES Network and was seeking $23 million dollars in lost compensation. The case was thrown out after finding that there was not enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to prove that Steinbrenner was liable.

• Seinfeld case  Judge(s):Laura Swain      *LAPINE v. Seinfeld No. 08 Civ. 128 (LTS)(RLE)

Judge Swain tossed out a copyright infringement lawsuit against Jessica Seinfeld on September 10, 2009 after the judge found that a recipe in a cookbook did not infringe on a competing author. Missy Chase Lapine sued the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld claiming a chicken breast recipe infringed on her similar recipe and competed unfairly. The judge found that because the styles of the books differed there was no evidence that Seinfeld's wife committed plagiarism. The case was appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The two appeals court judges, Reena Raggi and Peter Hall, ruled against Missy Chase Lapine and affirmed the decision by Judge Swain. The judgement can be read here. In 2010, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry Seinfeld for slander as a result of an interview Mr. Seinfeld participated in on the David Letterman television show. The New York Supreme Court dismissed the claim as being without merit in 2011. The judgement can be read here.

• AT&T Age Discrimination Lawsuit  Judge(s):J. Paul Oetken      *[ EEOC v. AT&T Inc et al] No. 09-07323

In October of 2011, Judge Oetken gave his approval of a settlement between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and AT&T. The commission had originally filed suit against AT&T claiming that violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 by refusing to rehire employees who had previously retired. Under the terms of the settlement AT&T "will not maintain any policy prohibiting the rehiring of employees who left AT&T under the relevant retirement programs," and, furthermore, will not retaliate against anyone involved in the litigation.

• Google book scanning case  Judge(s):Denny Chin      *The Authors Guild et al. v. Google Inc, and American Society of Media Photographers et al. v. Google Inc 1:05-cv-08136-DC

Judge Chin presided in a copyright case involving Google after Google was taken to court by the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers over alleged copyright violations in the tech giant's attempt to digitize books. On September 9, 2009, it was reported that Google will enter into a $125 million dollar settlement with the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers. However, there has been widespread opposition to a possible settlement from not only the US Government, but the governments of Germany and France along with Japanese authors on the grounds of not letting authors have free choice over which parts of their works are published on the search engine. Judge Chin, on September 25, 2009, announced that he would delay a planned October 7, 2009 settlement hearing in the Google books case. Both sides asked for the delay over the possibility of the settlement being anti-competitive. However, both sides planned to meet on October 7, 2009 over case management plans to move the case to a final resolution. During the October 7, 2009 hearing, Judge Chin set a deadline of November 9, 2009 in which Google must have a settlement plan ready for the judge to approve. The previous settlement proposal was thrown out. On November 19, 2009, Judge Chin gave preliminary approval of a settlement made between Google and book publishers. Google asked Judge Chin on February 11, 2010 to accept a $125 million dollar settlement in relation to the case. Attorneys for Google felt that if no settlement was reached, that it would set precedence for similar cases to backload court dockets resulting in litigation that could take years to rule on. The brief filed by Google was to convince the judge that the settlement would allow for more competition in the virtual book market amid Justice Department objections. Judge Chin on February 18, 2010 held a hearing on whether to accept the settlement by Google. Judge Chin had to delay the ruling because of so much information being presented that according to the judge "is too much to digest". However, on March 22nd, 2011 Judge Chin rejected the controversial settlement agreement "on copyright and antitrust grounds". The long-standing case was resolved, at least for publishers, on October 4, 2012 when the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google announced a settlement. The AAP, acting on behalf of five publishers named as plaintiffs in the suit, issued a statement stating "Google is said to 'acknowledge the rights and interests of copyright-holders,' and U.S. publishers can 'choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project.' " While Google and the AAP were able to resolve their suit, an additional aspect of the suit remains: "barring a settlement with the Authors Guild, the fair use questions at the heart of the Google program could still be adjudicated by Judge Chin." Scans of court documents involved in the case, as well as transcripts of some hearings, can be found here.

Harper's Bazaar wage suit

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York      *Wang v. Hearst Corporation 1:2012cv00793

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer presided over a minimum-wage violation case against Hearst Corporation's Harper's Bazaar, a major fashion magazine. In July, Judge Baer ruled that a federal lawsuit against the Hearst Corporation could go forward under the Fair Labor Standards Act on behalf of all unpaid interns who previously worked in the corporation’s magazines division. The suit was brought on behalf of Xuedan Wang, who was an unpaid intern at the magazine. Joined by almost 3,000 interns from other Hearst publications, the lawsuit was a class action suit. The claim is one of three claims brought by the same law firm, Outten & Golden, all revolving around minimum-wage violation claims by interns of major media organizations. Complaint: Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc 1:2011cv06784 Complaint: Lucy Bickerton v. Charles Rose and Charlie Rose, Inc No. 650780/2012 Complaint: Wang v. Hearst Corporation 1:2012cv00793

Federal courthouse

The court's main office is housed in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see New York judicial news.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

External links

• Official website for the U.S. District Court for the SDNY
• Official website for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the SDNY
• Official website of the Southern District Court Reporters
• Judges of the Southern District of New York
• Opinions of the Southern District of New York

References

Southern District of New York Second Circuit Chief: Loretta Preska Judges: 25 Posts: 28 Vacancies: 3 Active judges Abrams • Briccetti • Carter, Jr. • Castel • Crotty • Daniels • Engelmayer • Failla • Forrest • Furman • Gardephe • Karas • Koeltl • McMahon • Nathan • Oetken • Pauley • Ramos • Roman • Schofield • Seibel • Sullivan • Swain • Torres Senior Judges Baer • Batts • Berman • Buchwald • Carter • Cote • Cedarbaum • Conner • Griesa • Haight • Hellerstein • Kaplan • Keenan • Kram • Lasker • Leisure • Marrero • McKenna • Owen • Patterson • Rakoff • Sand • Scheindlin • Stanton • Stein • Sweet • Wood Magistrate Judges Chief Magistrate: Henry Pitman Davison • Dolinger • Eaton • Ellis • Fox • Francis • Freeman • Goldberg • Gorenstein • Katz • Maas • Peck • Smith • Yanthis Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has 28 posts and 3 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Loretta Preska. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Kevin Castel	1950	Jamaica, NY	W. Bush	09/22/2003 - Present		Lawrence McKenna	St. John's U., B.S., 1972	St. John's U. School of Law, J.D., 1975
Judge Paul Crotty	1941	Buffalo, NY	W. Bush	04/15/2005 - Present		Harold Baer	Notre Dame, B.A., 1962	Cornell Law, LL.B., 1967
Judge George Daniels	1953	Allendale, SC	Clinton	03/09/2000 - Present		Robert Patterson	Yale, B.A., 1975	U. of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law, J.D., 1978
Judge Paul Gardephe	1957	Fitchburg, MA	W. Bush	08/08/2008 - Present		Charles Brieant	U. of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1979	Columbia Law, J.D., 1982
Judge Kenneth Karas	1964	Colorado Springs, CO	W. Bush	06/13/2004 - Present		Allen Schwartz	Georgetown U., B.A., 1986	Columbia U. Law, J.D., 1991
Judge John Koeltl	1945	New York, NY	Clinton	08/10/1994 - Present		Shirley Kram	Georgetown U., A.B., 1967	Harvard Law, J.D., 1971
Judge Colleen McMahon	1951	Columbus, OH	Clinton	10/22/1998 - Present		John Keenan	Ohio State U., B.A., 1973	Harvard Law, J.D., 1976
Judge William Pauley	1952	Glen Cove, NY	Clinton	10/22/1998 - Present		Peter Leisure	Duke U., A.B., 1974	Duke U. Law, J.D., 1977
Chief Judge Loretta Preska	1949	Albany, NY	H.W. Bush	08/12/1992 - Present	2009 - Present	Robert Ward	College of St. Rose, B.A., 1970	Fordham U. Law, J.D., 1973
Judge Cathy Seibel	1960	West Islip, NY	W. Bush	07/30/1998 - Present		Richard Casey	Princeton U., A.B., 1982	Fordham U. Law, J.D., 1985
Judge Richard Sullivan	1964	Manhasset, NY	W. Bush	08/01/2007 - Present			College of William and Mary, B.A., 1986	Yale Law, J.D., 1990
Judge Laura Swain	1958	Brooklyn, NY	Clinton	07/11/2000 - Present		Thomas Griesa	Harvard-Radcliffe, A.B., 1979	Harvard Law, J.D., 1982
Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr.	1969	Albany, GA	Obama	12/5/2011 - Present		Victor Marrero	U. of Texas, B.A., 1991	Harvard Law, J.D., 1994
Judge Nelson S. Roman	1960	New York, NY	Obama	5/9/2013 - Present		Richard Berman	Fordham U., B.A., 1984	Brooklyn Law, J.D., 1989
Judge Analisa Torres	1959	New York, NY	Obama	4/18/2013 - Present		Naomi Buchwald	Harvard, A.B., 1981	Columbia Law, J.D., 1984
Judge J. Paul Oetken	1965	Louisville, KY	Obama	7/18/2011 - Present		Denny Chin	U. of Iowa, B.A., 1988	Yale Law, J.D., 1991
Judge Vincent L. Briccetti	1954	Mt. Kisco, NY	Obama	4/12/2011-Current		Kimba Wood	Columbia U. '76	Fordham University Law '80
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer	1961	New York, NY	Obama	7/26/2011 - Present		Gerard Lynch	Harvard, B.A., 1983	Harvard Law, J.D., 1987
Judge Alison J. Nathan	1972	Philadelphia, PA	Obama	10/13/2011 - Present		Sidney Stein	Cornell, B.A., 1994	Cornell Law, J.D., 2000
Judge Edgardo Ramos	1960	Ponce, Puerto Rico	Obama	12/5/2011 - Present		Stephen Robinson	Yale, B.A., 1982	Harvard Law, J.D., 1987
Judge Katherine Forrest	1964	New York, NY	Obama	10/13/2011 - Present		Jed Rakoff	Wesleyan U., B.A., 1986	New York U. Law, J.D., 1990
Judge Jesse Furman	1972	New York, NY	Obama	2/17/2012 - Present		Alvin Hellerstein	Harvard, B.A., 1994	Yale Law, J.D., 1998
Judge Ronnie Abrams	1968	New York, NY	Obama	3/22/2012 - Present		Lewis Kaplan	Cornell University, B.A., 1990	Yale Law School, J.D., 1993
Judge Lorna Schofield			Obama	12/13/2012 - Present		Shira Scheindlin	Indiana U., B.A., 1977	New York U. Law, J.D., 1981
Judge Katherine Failla	1969	Edison, NJ	Obama	3/4/2013 - Present		Denise Cote	College of William & Mary, B.A., 1990	Harvard Law, J.D., 1993

Pending appointments

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has 3 nominees pending and 3 vacancies. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	Confirmation	Bachelors	Law
Valerie Caproni		Tulane U., B.A., 1976	U. of Georgia Law, J.D., 1979
Vernon Broderick		Yale, B.A., 1985	Harvard Law, J.D., 1988
Gregory Howard Woods

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has 27 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge Victor Marrero	Clinton	10/05/1999 - 12/30/2010		12/31/2010 - Present	New York U., B.A., 1964	Yale Law, LL.B., 1968
Senior Judge Kimba Wood	Reagan	04/20/1988 - 05/31/2009	2006 - 2009	06/01/2009 - Present	Connecticut College, B.A., 1965	Harvard Law, J.D., 1969
Senior Judge Harold Baer	Clinton	08/10/1994 - 09/07/2004		09/08/2004 - Present	Hobart College, B.A., 1954	Yale Law, LL.B., 1957
Senior Judge Deborah Batts	Clinton	05/09/1994 - 4/13/2012		4/13/2012 - Present	Harvard-Radcliffe, A.B., 1969	Harvard Law, J.D., 1972
Senior Judge Richard Berman	Clinton	10/22/1998 - 9/11/2011		9/11/2011 - Present	Cornell, B.S., 1964	New York U. Law, J.D., 1967
Senior Judge Naomi Buchwald	Clinton	09/22/1999 - 3/21/2012		3/21/2012 - Present	Brandeis U., B.A., 1965	Columbia Law, LL.B., 1968
Senior Judge Robert Lee Carter	Nixon	07/25/1972 - 12/30/1986		12/31/1986 - Present	Lincoln U., A.B., 1937	Howard U. Law, LL.B., 1940
Senior Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum	Reagan	03/04/1986 - 03/30/1998		03/31/1998 - Present	Barnard College, B.A., 1950	Columbia Law, LL.B., 1953
Senior Judge Denise Cote	Clinton	08/10/1994 - 12/15/2011		12/15/2011 - Present	St. Mary's College, B.A., 1968	Columbia Law, J.D., 1975
Senior Judge Thomas Griesa	Nixon	07/30/1972 - 03/12/2000	1993 - 2000	03/13/2000 - Present	Harvard, A.B., 1952	Stanford Law, LL.B., 1958
Senior Judge Charles Haight	Ford	03/29/1976 - 09/22/1995		09/23/1995 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1952	Yale Law, LL.B., 1955
Senior Judge Alvin Hellerstein	Clinton	10/22/1998 - 01/29/2011		01/30/2011 - Present	Columbia, B.A., 1954	Columbia Law, J.D., 1956
Senior Judge Lewis Kaplan	Clinton	08/10/1994 - 01/31/2011		02/01/2011 - Present	U. of Rochester, A.B., 1966	Harvard Law, J.D., 1969
Senior Judge John Keenan	Reagan	09/20/1983 - 12/30/1996		12/31/1996 - Present	Manhattan College, B.B.A., 1951	Fordham U. Law, LL.B., 1954
Senior Judge (Inactive) Shirley Kram	Reagan	03/02/1983 - 05/22/1993		05/23/1993 - 08/21/2009		Brooklyn Law, LL.B., 1950
Senior Judge Peter Leisure	Reagan	06/15/1984 - 03/20/1997		03/21/1997 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1952	U. of Virginia Law, LL.B., 1958
Senior Judge Lawrence McKenna	H.W. Bush	04/30/1990 - 05/23/2002		05/24/2002 - Present	Fordham College, A.B., 1956	Columbia Law, LL.B., 1959
Senior Judge Richard Owen	Nixon	12/19/1973 - 09/29/1989		09/30/1989 - Present	Dartmouth College, A.B., 1945	Harvard Law, LL.B., 1950
Senior Judge Robert Patterson	Reagan	10/06/1988 - 12/30/1998		12/31/1998 - Present	Harvard, B.A., 1947	Columbia Law, LL.B., 1950
Senior Judge Jed Rakoff	Clinton	01/04/1996 - 12/30/2010		12/31/2010 - Present	Swarthmore College, B.A., 1964	Harvard Law, J.D., 1969
Senior Judge Leonard Sand	Carter	05/19/1978 - 06/30/1993		07/01/1993 - Present	New York U. School of Commerce, B.S., 1947	Harvard Law, LL.B., 1951
Senior Judge Shira Scheindlin	Clinton	09/29/2004-8/16/2011		8/16/2011-Current	U. of Michigan, B.A., 1967	Cornell Law, J.D., 1975
Senior Judge Louis Stanton	Reagan	07/18/1985 - 09/30/1996		10/01/1996 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1950	U. of Virginia Law, J.D. and L.L.B., 1955
Senior Judge Sidney Stein	Clinton	03/17/1995 - 08/31/2010		09/01/2010 - Present	Princeton, A.B., 1967	Yale Law, J.D., 1972
Senior Judge Robert Sweet	Carter	04/28/1978 - 02/28/1991		03/01/1991 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1944	Yale Law, LL.B., 1948
Senior Judge Kevin Duffy	Nixon	10/17/1972 - 1/10/1998			Fordham College (1954)	Fordham University School of Law (1958)
Senior Judge Gerard Goettel	Ford	3/30/1976 - 8/5/1993			Duke University (1950)	Columbia Law School (1955)

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman
Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger		Columbia, B.A., 1968	Columbia Law, J.D., 1972
Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis	1993 - Present	Manhattan College, B.S., 1972	New York U. Law, J.D., 1975
Chief Magistrate Judge Kevin Fox			Brooklyn Law School
Magistrate Judge James Francis	1985 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1974	Yale Law, J.D., 1978
Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman
Magistrate Judge Martin Goldberg			New York U. Law
Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein	03/02/2001 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1979	Columbia Law, J.D., 1984
Magistrate Judge Frank Maas
Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck	02/27/1995 - Present	Cornell, B.A., 1974	Duke U. Law, J.D., 1977
Magistrate Judge Lisa Smith	1995 - Present	Earlham College, B.A., 1977	Duke U. Law, J.D., 1980
Magistrate Judge George Yanthis	1996 - Present	Kent State U., B.A.	Syracuse U. Law, J.D.
Magistrate Judge Paul Davison			New York U. Law

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Sidney Sugarman
Sylvester Ryan
Constance Motley
Lloyd MacMahon
David Edelstein
Charles Brieant
John William Clancy
William Bondy
John Clark Knox
Lisa Smith	2006 - 2008
Andrew Peck	2004 - 2005
Kimba Wood	2006 - 2009

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

1. Morris Lasker
2. Denny Chin
3. William Conner
4. Richard Holwell
5. Barbara Jones
6. Gerard Lynch
7. Stephen Robinson
8. John Sprizzo
9. William Peter Van Ness
10. Samuel Rossiter Betts
11. Samuel Blatchford
12. Sonia Sotomayor
13. William Gardner Choate
14. Pierre Leval
15. Wilfred Feinberg
16. John Walker
17. Barrington Parker
18. Lawrence Pierce
19. Addison Brown
20. George Bethune Adams
21. George Chandler Holt
22. Charles Merrill Hough
23. Learned Hand
24. Julius Marshuetz Mayer
25. Augustus Noble Hand
26. John Clark Knox
27. Martin Thomas Manton
28. William Bondy
29. Henry Warren Goddard
30. Francis Asbury Winslow
31. Frank Joseph Coleman
32. Thomas Day Thacher
33. Alfred Conkling Coxe, Jr.
34. John Munro Woolsey
35. George Murray Hulbert
36. John William Clancy
37. Vincent Leibell
38. Samuel Mandelbaum
39. Edward Conger
40. Robert Porter Patterson, Sr.
41. Charles Metzner
42. Arnold Bauman
43. Alexander Bicks
44. Dudley Bonsal
45. Charles Brieant
46. John Bright
47. Vincent Broderick
48. Frederick Bryan
49. Francis Caffey
50. John Cannella
51. Richard Casey
52. John Cashin
53. Kenneth Conboy
54. Irving Cooper
55. Thomas Croake
56. Richard Daronco
57. Archie Dawson
58. Edward Dimock
59. David Edelstein
60. Marvin Frankel
61. Louis Freeh
62. Lee Gagliardi
63. Murray Gurfein
64. William Herlands
65. Irving Kaufman
66. Samuel Kaufman
67. Percy Knapp
68. Richard Levet
69. Mary Lowe
70. Lloyd MacMahon
71. Walter Mansfield
72. John McGohey
73. Edward McLean
74. Harold Medina
75. Constance Motley
76. Thomas Murphy
77. Gregory Noonan
78. Edmund Palmieri
79. Milton Pollack
80. Simon Rifkind
81. Sylvester Ryan
82. Allen Schwartz
83. Abraham Sofaer
84. Charles Stewart
85. Sidney Sugarman
86. Charles Tenney
87. Harold Tyler
88. Lawrence Walsh
89. Robert Ward
90. Edward Weinfeld
91. Henry Werker
92. Inzer Wyatt
93. John S. Martin
94. John S. Martin, Jr.