United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

	Southern District of New York
	Second Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Abrams • Briccetti • Carter, Jr. • Castel • Crotty • Daniels • Engelmayer • Forrest • Furman • Gardephe • Jones • Karas • Koeltl • McMahon • Nathan • Oetken • Pauley • Ramos • Seibel • Sullivan • Swain
	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

	Southern District of New York
	Second Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Abrams • Briccetti • Carter, Jr. • Castel • Crotty • Daniels • Engelmayer • Forrest • Furman • Gardephe • Jones • Karas • Koeltl • McMahon • Nathan • Oetken • Pauley • Ramos • Seibel • Sullivan • Swain
	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

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Court
Judges

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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 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. The current United States Attorney for the district is Michael J. Garcia.

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 6 vacancies out of their 28 posts, constituting 21% of their seats. There are two pending appointments 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.

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

^[1]

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. ^[2]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Southern 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)
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)

^[2]

Notable cases

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

• 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. ^[3]

• 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^[4].

• 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^[4]. 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 to had severe overcrowding and forcing inmates to sleep on the floor along with dealing with filthy conditions such as cockroaches and mice^[4].

• 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.^[5]

• WSJ racial bias Judge(s):Deborah Batts
*[ Phillips v. Dow Jones & Co]

Judge Batts is presiding in the case of former Wall Street Journal editor Carolyn Phillips over perceived racial bias on the job. The judge issued an order on August 18, 2009 that could set the stage for a trial against her former employer, nearly seven years after she was dismissed by the paper in 2002. The judge's order found that the newspaper could have committed racial discrimination when terminating Phillips from her employment; no date has been set for a trial.^[6]

Federal courthouse

The court's main office is housed in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York.^[7]

Major news

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

External links

References

Share this Court:

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 Southern District of New York has 28 posts and 6 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 2 appointees pending and 6 vacancies. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	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	Williams College, B.A., 1991	Yale Law, J.D., 1995

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has 23 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.