Eastern District of New York |
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Second Circuit |
Judgeships |
Posts: 15 |
Judges: 11 |
Vacancies: 4 |
Judges |
Chief: Margo Brodie |
Active judges: Joan Azrack, Margo Brodie, Gary R. Brown, Pamela Ki Mai Chen, LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall, Ann M. Donnelly, Diane Gujarati, Eric Komitee, Rachel Kovner, William Kuntz, Kiyo Matsumoto Senior judges: |
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is one of 94 United States district courts. The courthouses are located in Brooklyn and Central Islip. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit based in Lower Manhattan at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse.
There are four current vacancies on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, out of the court's 15 judicial positions.
There are no pending nominees for this court.
Judge | Appointed By | Assumed Office | Bachelors | Law |
---|---|---|---|---|
July 22, 2008 |
University of California, Berkeley, 1976 |
Georgetown University Law Center, 1981 |
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October 4, 2011 |
Harvard, 1972 |
Harvard Law, 1977 |
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February 29, 2012 |
St. Francis College, 1988 |
University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1991 |
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March 5, 2013 |
University of Michigan, 1983 |
Georgetown University Law Center, 1986 |
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December 19, 2014 |
Rutgers University, 1974 |
New York Law School, 1979 |
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October 21, 2015 |
University of Michigan, 1981 |
The Ohio State University, Moritz School of Law, 1984 |
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November 17, 2015 |
Antioch College, 1992 |
Howard University School of Law, 2000 |
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October 17, 2019 |
Harvard College, 2001 |
Stanford Law School, 2006 |
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December 5, 2019 |
Emory University, 1992 |
New York University Law School, 1995 |
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December 31, 2019 |
Columbia College, 1985 |
Yale Law School, 1988 |
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September 18, 2020 |
Barnard College, 1990 |
Yale Law School, 1995 |
The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.
Judge | Appointed By | Assumed Office | Bachelors | Law |
---|---|---|---|---|
July 1, 1993 |
The City College of New York, 1943 |
Brooklyn Law, 1948 |
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June 1, 2003 |
Brooklyn College, 1963 |
Brooklyn Law School, 1966 |
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December 18, 2004 |
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, 1959 |
Fordham University School of Law, 1966 |
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September 1, 2005 |
Indiana University, 1956 |
Cornell Law, 1959 |
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October 25, 2007 |
Brooklyn College, 1963 |
Brooklyn Law School, 1966 |
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October 16, 2008 |
Cornell, 1962 |
Yale Law, 1965 |
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April 3, 2011 |
Fairfield University, 1966 |
St. John's University School of Law, 1969 |
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April 5, 2011 |
Wellesley College, 1967 |
Harvard Law, 1970 |
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January 13, 2014 |
University of Cincinnati, 1967 |
St. John's University School of Law, 1971 |
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October 1, 2014 |
Columbia College, 1969 |
Columbia Law School, 1974 |
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November 30, 2016 |
College of William and Mary, 1968 |
University of Virginia School of Law, 1971 |
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February 28, 2017 |
Fordham College, 1968 |
New York University School of Law, 1971 |
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January 26, 2020 |
Yale, 1976 |
Columbia University School of Law, 1979 |
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June 12, 2020 |
University of Illinois, 1975 |
Cornell Law, 1979 |
The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.
Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve in United States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.[1]
Judge | Appointed By | Assumed Office | Bachelors | Law |
---|---|---|---|---|
State University of New York, Stonybrook |
St. John's University School of Law |
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Wesleyan University, 1977 |
Yale Law School, 1980 |
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Tufts University |
Hofstra University Law |
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1994 |
University of Dayton, 1968 |
New York University Law, 1975 |
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1994 |
Yale College, 1972 |
Stanford Law School, 1975 |
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November 1, 1995 |
Princeton, 1975 |
University of Chicago Law, 1978 |
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2001 |
State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1981 |
State University of New York, Buffalo School of Law, 1985 |
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2006 |
Cornell, 1988 |
Brooklyn Law, 1992 |
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February 24, 2006 |
Rutgers University, 1972 |
St. John's University School of Law, 1987 |
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August 14, 2012 |
Columbia University |
Yale University |
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October 9, 2015 |
Yale University, 1985 |
Harvard Law School, 1988 |
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March 21, 2016 |
Hofstra University, 1999 |
Yale Law School, 2002 |
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August 28, 2017 |
Harvard University, 1998 |
Harvard Law School, 2002 |
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United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
April 5, 2021 |
University of Michigan |
University of Minnesota Law School |
|
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
April 26, 2021 |
Wheeling Jesuit College |
St. John's University School of Law |
|
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
May 3, 2021 |
University of Michigan |
Columbia Law School |
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. A statutory change in the 1950s created the seven-year term. 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.[2]
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For information on judges of the Eastern District of New York, see former federal judges of the Eastern District of New York.
The Eastern 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.
The geographic jurisdiction of the Eastern District of New York consists of all the following counties in the eastern part of the state of New York.
This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in April 2021. Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.
Caseload statistics explanation | |||||||||
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Term | Explanation | ||||||||
Cases filed and terminated | The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated. | ||||||||
Average time from filing to disposition | The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil). | ||||||||
Starting case load | The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year. | ||||||||
Cases filed | The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year. | ||||||||
Cases terminated | The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year. | ||||||||
Remaining cases | The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year. | ||||||||
Median time (Criminal) | The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal. | ||||||||
Median time (Civil) | The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. | ||||||||
Three-year civil cases | The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year. | ||||||||
Vacant posts | The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant. | ||||||||
Trial/Post | The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions. | ||||||||
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York caseload stats, 2010-2019 | |||||||||||
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Year | Cases Filed | Cases Terminated | Cases Pending | Number of Judgeships | Vacant Judgeship Months | Average Total Filings per Judgeship | Trials Completed per Judgeship | Median time from filing to disposition, criminal | Median time from filing to disposition, civil | Three-year civil cases (#) | Three-year civil cases (%) |
2010 | 7,986 | 7,826 | 10,934 | 15 | 12 | 532 | 20 | 18 | 9 | 1,224 | 16 |
2011 | 7,610 | 7,526 | 9,747 | 15 | 27 | 507 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 1,155 | 15 |
2012 | 7,838 | 7,744 | 11,185 | 15 | 14 | 523 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 1,184 | 15 |
2013 | 8,817 | 7,813 | 12,156 | 15 | 2 | 588 | 18 | 22 | 9 | 1,218 | 14 |
2014 | 8,887 | 8,174 | 12,744 | 15 | 15 | 592 | 17 | 21 | 9 | 1,210 | 12 |
2015 | 8,854 | 8,785 | 12,771 | 15 | 29 | 590 | 16 | 23 | 10 | 1,331 | 14 |
2016 | 8,521 | 8,324 | 12,911 | 15 | 23 | 568 | 17 | 23 | 9 | 1,897 | 19 |
2017 | 9,069 | 9,314 | 12,672 | 15 | 46 | 605 | 16 | 19 | 9 | 1,759 | 18 |
2018 | 8,946 | 9,263 | 12,362 | 15 | 48 | 596 | 13 | 22 | 9 | 1,465 | 16 |
2019 | 8,600 | 8,495 | 12,192 | 15 | 52 | 573 | 14 | 22 | 8 | 1,594 | 17 |
Average | 8,513 | 8,326 | 11,967 | 15 | 27 | 567 | 17 | 20 | 9 | 1,404 | 15 |
The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized the United States District Court for the District of New York as one federal district court with one judgeship, which was initially filled by James Duane. The District of New York, in turn, was assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eastern Circuit. Both courts, the district and the circuit, became defunct when the Judiciary Act of 1801 reorganized the federal courts into six circuits. At that time, the District of New York was assigned to the Second Circuit, where all New York federal district courts have since remained.[3]
The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Eastern District of New York:[3]
Year | Statute | Total Seats |
September 1789 | 1 Stat. 73 | 1 (District of New York) |
February 25, 1865 | 13 Stat. 438 | 1 (Creation of court) |
June 25, 1910 | 36 Stat. 838 | 2 |
September 14, 1922 | 42 Stat. 837 | 3 (1 temporary) |
February 28, 1929 | 45 Stat. 1409 | 5 (1 temporary) |
August 19, 1935 | 49 Stat. 659 | 6 |
May 19, 1961 | 75 Stat. 80 | 8 |
June 2, 1970 | 84 Stat. 294 | 9 |
October 20, 1978 | 92 Stat. 1629 | 11 |
July 10, 1984 | 98 Stat. 333 | 12 |
December 1, 1990 | 104 Stat. 5089 | 15 |
For a searchable list of notable decisions, please see Decisions for the Eastern District of New York.
• Rhino horn trafficking case (2014) Judge(s):John Gleeson (U.S. v. Slattery) | Click for summary→ |
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On January 10, 2014, Judge John Gleeson sentenced Michael Slattery, Jr. to 14 months in prison for his role in a rhinoceros horn trafficking ring. In the underlying case, Slattery, an Irish national, was arrested in 2013, three years after he sold two sets of rhinoceros horns to a collector in New York for $50,000. The horns were later sold to a third party for $108,000. Slattery procured one of the sets after asking a homeless man to purchase a mounted black rhino head for him at a taxidermy auction in Texas. It is illegal for nonresidents to make such purchases, and Slattery was criminally charged accordingly. On November 5, 2013, Slattery pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking. The prosecution requested a two-year sentence, and Slattery's defense attorney requested that his client be released, as he had already served four months while awaiting trial. Slattery claimed that he "didn't understand that this was going to end up with other animals getting killed," but Judge Gleeson sentenced him to 14 months. Gleeson noted that he'd been on the bench for a long time, but that he'd "never seen a rhino horn case before."[4][5][6][7] | |
• Bonanno crime family murder and racketeering case (2011) Judge(s):Nicholas Garaufis (US v. Basciano, No. 05-CR-060 (NGG)) | Click for summary→ |
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Judge Garufis presided in the murder and racketeering trial of Vincent Basciano, formerly acting boss of the Bonanno crime family. Basciano was convicted of the murder of a mob associate and attempting to kill federal prosecutor Greg Andres.[8] As a result of the conviction, Basciano was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[9] | |
• FDNY discrimination case (2009-2011) Judge(s):Nicholas Garaufis (US and The Vulcan Society, Inc v. The City of New York, et al, No. 07-cv-2067 (NGG)(RLM)) | Click for summary→ |
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On July 22, 2009, Judge Garufis ruled against the City of New York for using selection tests that discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants to the Fire Department.[10] The U.S. Department of Justice sued New York City after the Vulcan Society, a black fire fighters advocacy group, filed a complaint over the department's hiring practices.[10] In another ruling involving the same plaintiffs, the Vulcan Society, the judge issued a ruling on January 13, 2010 that the City of New York engaged in widespread discriminatory hiring practices of its firefighters. Garafuis wrote in his ruling that the discriminatory hiring practices stems back all the way to the 1960s and described it as "a persistent stain on the Fire Department’s record."[11] In November, 2011, Judge Garaufis appointed Mark S. Cohen, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to serve as a special bias monitor for the FDNY to ensure fair treatment for minorities in the department. The appointment came after Judge Garaufis ruled that judicial oversight of the FDNY was necessary because of the, in his words, "pattern and practice of discrimination against black firefighter candidates."[12] | |
• NY mental disabilities case (2010) Judge(s):Nicholas Garaufis (Disability Advocates, Inc v Paterson, et al, No. 03-CV-3209 (NGG)) | Click for summary→ |
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On September 8, 2009, Judge Garafuis ruled that New York State had to find new housing for 4,000 mentally handicapped citizens. The judge found that the State of New York put these citizens in what he called "poorly-run, seedy homes". The 210-page ruling issued by Garafuis found the state committed numerous violations under The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and gave health officials six weeks to come up with a plan for new housing.[13] Later, Judge Garafuis ruled on March 2, 2010 that the State of New York must create 1,500 units of housing for the mentally handicapped every year until 2013. Officials overseeing housing for the mentally handicapped in New York State questioned the judge's ruling at a time when the state's resources were stretched thin due to a budget crisis.[14] | |
• Teacher vulgarities (2010) Judge(s):Jack Weinstein | Click for summary→ |
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On May 20, 2010, Judge Weinstien ruled that a New York City teacher should not been suspended for using vulgar, sexual language in a sex education class. The nearly three-year-old lawsuit came when the teacher was suspended for asking students to write down words used in sex which involved vulgar language. The judge found that New York City public schools had no authority over what teachers can say or not say in the classroom.[15] | |
• Wrongful arrest (2009) Judge(s):Jack Weinstein | Click for summary→ |
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Judge Weinstien was the presiding judge in a lawsuit that involved the wrongful arrest of two brothers when the New York Police Department was engaged in a narcotics bust. On November 30, 2009, the judge upheld a $10 million dollar jury verdict in favor of the two brothers as the New York Police appealed the jury verdict. [16] | |
• Bear Stearns (2009) Judge(s):Frederic Block | Click for summary→ |
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In 2009, Judge Block presided in the trial of former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin. The executives were charged with securities fraud in connection to the collapse of the company in 2008 which led to JP Morgan Chase buying the company.[17] A jury acquitted both Cioffi and Tannin of wrongdoing in November 2009. However, they settled a civil suit with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2012 by agreeing to pay approximately $1 million.[18][19] | |
• Native American cigarette sales (2009) Judge(s):Carol Amon (City of New York v. Golden Feather Smoke Shop, 597 F. 3d 115) | Click for summary→ |
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Judge Amon ruled on August 25, 2009 that an Indian reservation could not sell cigarettes tax-free to the general public pending any further court action. The City of New York sued a group of cigarette vendors on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation over the missing tax revenue the untaxed cigarettes bring to New York City.[20] On March 4, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit sent two questions to the New York Court of Appeals to answer to clarify state law as it pertains to the taxation of cigarettes on Native American Reservations.[21] Because of this action, defendant Rodney Morrison charged that the New York State law in question was "unconstitutionally vague." The Second Circuit disagreed with that assessment and reinstated the racketeering conspiracy verdict.[22] | |
In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that two judgeships be added to the district.[23] Based on FJC data, the district handled 539 weighted filings per judgeship from September 2017 to September 2018. Weighted filings are a specific metric used by the federal judiciary that accounts for the different amounts of time judges require to resolve types of civil and criminal cases. The national average in that period for weighted filings per judgeship was 513.[24]
The FJC is the policy-making body for the United States federal courts system. It was first organized as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922.[25] The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States serves as chair of the conference. The members of the conference are the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.[26]
The court's main office is housed in the Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse in Brooklyn.[27]
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.
There is a United States bankruptcy court and a number of bankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.
There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.
There are currently 677 U.S. District Court judgeships.[28][29]
The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.
In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.[30]
The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through November 1 of the first year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, President Biden made the most district court appointments with 19. President Reagan made 16, the second most for the presidents under study for this period. President Obama had appointed the fewest with three.
The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before the United States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.
The district courts are served by Article III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.[29]
Step | Candidacy Proceeds | Candidacy Halts |
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1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President | President Nominates to Senate Judiciary Committee | President Declines Nomination |
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate | Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation | Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee |
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation | Candidate becomes federal judge | Candidate does not receive judgeship |
The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office of federal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed to magistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.[31]
| |||
---|---|---|---|
Active judges |
Chief Judge: Margo Brodie • Kiyo Matsumoto • Joan Azrack • Ann M. Donnelly • William Kuntz • Pamela Ki Mai Chen • Gary R. Brown • LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall • Diane Gujarati • Eric Komitee • Rachel Kovner | ||
Senior judges |
Raymond Dearie • Leo Glasser • Denis Hurley • Sterling Johnson • Edward Korman • Carol Amon • Brian Cogan • Nicholas Garaufis • Nina Gershon • Dora Irizarry • Allyne Ross • Joanna Seybert • Eric Vitaliano • Frederic Block • | ||
Magistrate judges | Steven Gold • Lois Bloom • Arlene Lindsay • Roanne Mann • Cheryl Pollak • Ramon Reyes, Jr. • A. Kathleen Tomlinson • Vera Scanlon • Steven Locke • Peggy Kuo • Steven Tiscione • Anne Shields • Sanket Bulsara • James Wicks • James R. Cho • Taryn A. Merkl • | ||
Former Article III judges |
Thomas Platt • Charles Sifton • Arthur Spatt • David Trager • Jack Weinstein • Leonard Wexler • Joseph Bianco • Sandra Feuerstein • John Gleeson • Roslynn Mauskopf • Sandra Townes • Frank Altimari • Charles Linnaeus Benedict • Joseph McLaughlin (Second Circuit) • Reena Raggi • George Pratt • Asa Wentworth Tenney • Edward Beers Thomas • Thomas Chatfield • Van Vechten Veeder • Edwin Louis Garvin • Marcus Beach Campbell • Robert Alexander Inch • Grover Moscowitz • Mortimer Byers • Clarence Galston • Matthew Abruzzo • John Bartels • Frederic Block • Henry Bramwell • Walter Bruchhausen • Mark Costantino • John Dooling • Orrin Judd • Jacob Mishler • Edward Neaher • Eugene Nickerson • Leo Rayfiel • George Rosling • Anthony Travia • Joseph Zavatt • Harold Kennedy (New York) • | ||
Former Chief judges |
Raymond Dearie • Edward Korman • Thomas Platt • Charles Sifton • Jack Weinstein • Carol Amon • Dora Irizarry • Roslynn Mauskopf • Robert Alexander Inch • Walter Bruchhausen • Jacob Mishler • Joseph Zavatt • |
State of New York Albany (capital) | |
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