United States District Court for the Northern District of New York

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Northern District of New York Second Circuit Chief: Gary Sharpe Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Hurd • Mordue • Suddaby • D'Agostino Senior Judges McAvoy • McCurn • Scullin • Kahn Magistrate Judges Baxter • Bianchini • Homer • Kudrle • Lowe • Peebles • Treece Former Judges

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

Contents
1 Court
1.1 Vacancy warning level
1.2 Jurisdiction
1.2.1 Cases heard
1.2.2 Case load
1.3 Clerk's office
1.4 History
1.4.1 Court history
1.4.2 Judicial posts
1.4.3 Notable decisions
1.4.4 Federal courthouse
1.5 Major news
1.6 See also
1.7 External links
1.8 References
2 Judges

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York is the United States district court serving about a quarter of the state of New York. The current U.S. Attorney for the district is Glenn T. Suddaby.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no vacancies out of their five posts, constituting 0% of their seats. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

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

The geographic jurisdiction of the Northern District of New York consists of all the following counties in the northern part of the state of New York. Albany County Broome County Cayuga County Chenango County Clinton County Columbia County Cortland County Delaware County Essex County Franklin County Fulton County Greene County Hamilton County Herkimer County Jefferson County Lewis County Madison County Montgomery County Oneida County Onondaga County Oswego County Otsego County Rensselaer County Saratoga County Schenectady County Schoharie County St. Lawrence County Tioga County Tompkins County Ulster County Warren County Washington County

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 Northern 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	2577	2195	4772	2170	2602	9.2	12.4	190(9.6%)	12.0	32
2009	2643	2119	4762	2124	2638	7.9	10.3	251(12.4%)	12.0	15
2008	2932	1957	4889	2271	2618	12.3	13.5	310(14.6%)	21.6	14
2007	3303	1956	5259	2165	3094	11.0	12.6	327(13.4%)	14.0	15
2006	3096	2110	5206	1905	3301	10.5	13.3	435(15.4%)	6.6	14

*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 Northern District of New York has eight different courthouses including satellite facilities. The Clerk's Office in Albany, Binghamton, Syracuse, and Utica are open from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Monday - Friday excepting Federal holidays. According to the court's website, because it is a satellite branch with limited public hours, the Plattsburgh office should be called in advance to confirm that it is open. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Location	Address	Phone number
Albany	James T. Foley - U.S. Courthouse 445 Broadway, Room 509 Albany, NY 12207-2924	(518) 257-1800
Auburn	Old Post Office & Courthouse 157 Genesee Street, 2nd Floor Auburn, NY 13021	(315) 252-6555
Binghamton	U.S. Courthouse & Federal Building 15 Henry Street Binghamton, NY 13901-2723	(607) 773-2893
Fort Drum	U.S. Courthouse Lewis Avenue Fort Drum, NY 13602	(315) 234-8500
Plattsburgh	14 Durkee Street Suite 360 Plattsburgh, NY 12901	(518) 247-4501
Syracuse	U.S. District Court 100 S. Clinton Street P.O. Box 7367 Syracuse, NY 13261-7367	(315) 234-8500
Utica	Alexander Pirnie Federal Building 10 Broad Street Utica, NY 13501-1233	(315) 793-8151
Watertown	Jefferson County Courthouse Dulles State Office Building 317 Washington Street - 10th Floor Watertown, NY 13601	(315) 779-8935

^[1]

History

Court history

The Northern 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. The Northern District was split again in 1900, giving rise to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. The first judge in the Northern District of New York was Matthias Burnett Tallmadge. The district now covers thirty-two counties in upstate New York, with an extensive border with Canada to the north.^[2]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
[[c1789#September|]]	1 Stat. 73	1 (District of New York)
April 9, 1814	3 Stat. 120	1 (Creation of court)
March 3, 1927	44 Stat. 1374	2
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	3
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	4
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	4 (1 Temporary)
November 2, 2002	116 Stat. 1758	5

^[2]

Notable decisions

• New York 2012 Primary Date

On Friday, June 27, 2012 Sharpe delivered a ruling establishing the date of the New York congressional primary as June 26 2012, 35 days prior to the deadline for sending absentee ballots overseas. New York originally intended on holding its primary early in September, but the judge found that the original primary date was too late to get up to date ballots overseas. Sharpe wrote in his opinion, "Nothing is more critical to a vibrant democratic society than citizen participation in government through the act of voting. It is unconscionable to send men and women overseas to preserve our democracy while simultaneously disenfranchising them while they are gone. To some extent, that is precisely what New York has done. Having had ample opportunity to correct the problem, it has failed to find the political will to do so." However, many have criticized the early date, claiming that it will cause problems for New York's delayed redistricting process, which has left many candidates wondering which district they are running in. The presidential primary will be held separately on April 24. [3]

• Joseph Bruno case

Judge Sharpe presided in the case of former New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Bruno was charged with corruption in an attempt to use his public office for personal gain. On August 21, 2009, Judge Sharpe rejected a motion from Bruno's defense team asking the grand jury indictment to be tossed out over claims that federal prosecutors were not explicit enough in its findings to indict the former Senator[4]. Bruno's trial began on November 2, 2009 as Bruno was tried on eight counts of federal corruption charges[5]. The trial concluded on December 7, 2009, when a jury of seven women and five men convicted the former State Senator on two of eight corruption counts. The deliberations took at least one week[6]. The sentencing for the former Senate leader was originally scheduled for March 31, 2010[6], but got delayed until May 6, 2010 on a judge's order issued on February 24, 2010[7]. On the same day, the judge denied a request by Bruno's attorneys for a new trial[7]. Judge Sharpe said Bruno's attorneys failed to prove evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to warrant a new trial[7]. Former New York Governor George Pataki made a plea to Judge Sharpe on May 4, 2010, to look at what Bruno has done during his career before rendering his sentence. Despite Pataki does not condone the actions that Bruno was convicted of, he felt that the offenses Bruno was convicted of is inconsistent with his character. Bruno's attorneys also asked the judge to not consider a prison sentence over health issues the former Senator is facing[8]. On May 6, 2010, Judge Sharpe sentenced former State Senator Bruno to two years in federal prison. However, Bruno will not have to report to prison immediately pending a Supreme Court of the United States decision on the honest services statute. If the Supreme Court strikes down the law which prosecutors convicted Bruno with, then his conviction would be thrown out[9].

Federal courthouse

The court's main office is housed in the James F. Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse.^[10]

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

• United States District Court for the Northern District of New York Official Website
• United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York Official Website
• Judges of the Northern District of New York
• Opinions of the Northern District of New York

References

Share this Court:

Northern District of New York Second Circuit Chief: Gary Sharpe Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Hurd • Mordue • Suddaby • D'Agostino Senior Judges McAvoy • McCurn • Scullin • Kahn Magistrate Judges Baxter • Bianchini • Homer • Kudrle • Lowe • Peebles • Treece Former Judges

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

Contents
1 Court
2 Judges
2.1 Active Judges
2.1.1 Article III judges
2.1.2 Pending appointments
2.1.3 Senior judges
2.2 Past judges
2.2.1 Former Chief judges
2.2.2 Former judges

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York has 5 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Gary Sharpe. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Norman Mordue	1942	Elmira, NY	Clinton	10/22/1998 - Current	2006 - 2011	Rosemary Pooler	Syracuse U., B.A., 1966	Syracuse U. College of Law, J.D., 1971
Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn	1937	Troy, NY	Clinton	08/01/1996 - 07/31/2007		Neal McCurn	Union College, A.B., 1959	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1962
Judge David Hurd	1937	Hancock, NY	Clinton	09/22/1999 - Current		Constantine Cholakis	Cornell, B.S., 1959	Syracuse U. College of Law, J.D., 1963
Chief Judge Gary Sharpe	1947	Cortland, NY	W. Bush	01/29/2004 - Current	2011 - Current	Thomas McAvoy	U. of Buffalo, B.A., 1971	Cornell Law School, J.D., 1974
Judge Glenn Suddaby	1956	Glen Falls, NY	W. Bush	08/29/2008 - Current		Lawrence Kahn	Plattsburgh SUNY, B.A., 1980	Syracuse U. Law, J.D., 1985
Judge Mae A. D'Agostino	1954	Albany, NY	Obama	03/30/2011 - Current		Frederick Scullin	Siena College, B.A., 1977	Syracuse U. Law, J.D., 1980

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York has 4 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 Neal McCurn	Carter	11/02/1979 - 04/05/1993	1988 - 1993	04/06/1993 - Current	Syracuse U., A.B., 1950	Syracuse U. Law, LL.B., 1952
Senior Judge Thomas McAvoy	Reagan	03/04/1986 - 09/16/2003	1993 - 2000	09/17/2003 - Current	Villanova U., A.B., 1960	Albany Law, J.D., 1964
Senior Judge Frederick Scullin	H.W. Bush	02/10/1992 - 03/12/2006	2000 - 2006	03/13/2006 - Current	Niagara U., B.S., 1961	Syracuse U. Law, LL.B., 1964
Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn	Clinton	08/01/1996 - 07/31/2007		08/01/2007 - Current	Union College, A.B., 1959	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1962

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge David Homer	1995 - Current	Brown, B.A., 1969	Syracuse U. Law, J.D., 1975
Magistrate Judge David Peebles	2000 - Current	Georgia Institute of Technology, 1972	Syracuse U. Law, J.D., 1975
Magistrate Judge Randolph Treece	2001 - Current		Albany Law, J.D., 1976
Magistrate Judge George Lowe	02/2004 - Current	Williams College	Columbia Law
Magistrate Judge Larry Kudrle	01/24/2002 - Current
Magistrate Judge Victor Bianchini	2006 - Current	San Diego State, 1960	U. of San Diego Law, 1963
Magistrate Judge Andrew T. Baxter	01/03/2010 - Current	Princeton, A.B., 1978	Harvard Law, J.D., 1981
Magistrate Judge Therese Wiley Dancks	2011-Current	LeMoyne College	Syracuse U. Law

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Howard Munson	1980 - 1988
James Foley	1963 - 1980
Stephen Brennan	1948 - 1963
Frederick Scullin	2000 - 2006
Thomas McAvoy	1993 - 2000
Neal McCurn	1988 - 1993
Norman Mordue	2006 - 2011

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