Who appointed Alvin K. Hellerstein?

President William J. Clinton appointed Alvin K. Hellerstein to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1998.

Was Alvin K. Hellerstein appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Alvin K. Hellerstein was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Alvin K. Hellerstein's confirmation vote?

Alvin K. Hellerstein was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of New York / Appointed 1998 / Senior status since 2011

Alvin K. Hellerstein

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Alvin K. Hellerstein is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1933 · age 93
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1998
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Columbia College 1954 · Columbia Law School 1956
Succeeded: Louis Lee Stanton
Succeeded by: Jesse Matthew Furman

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1998	Southern District of New York succeeded Louis Lee Stanton	Clinton (D)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

Columbia College	B.A.	1954
Columbia Law School	J.D.	1956

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Hellerstein was assigned 15,682 district-court cases (1975–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 1,407 days across 15,519 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts67%

Contract7%

Civil rights5%

Other federal statutes3%

Labor & ERISA3%

Other civil matters3%

Other11%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

On appeal

Of 535 of Hellerstein’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 386 were affirmed, 76 reversed or vacated, and 73 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.

In our data, Hellerstein authored 114 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: Ansoumana v. Gristede's Operating Corp. (58 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2003	Ansoumana v. Gristede's Operating Corp.	255 F. Supp. 2d 184	58
2002	Chu Chung v. New Silver Palace Restaurant, Inc.	246 F. Supp. 2d 220	46
2004	Great Earth International Franchising Corp. v. Milks Development	311 F. Supp. 2d 419	43
2002	DynCorp v. GTE Corp.	215 F. Supp. 2d 308	43
2006	Jones v. National Communication & Surveillance Networks	409 F. Supp. 2d 456	35
2004	Medinol Ltd. v. Boston Scientific Corp.	346 F. Supp. 2d 575	35
2001	Specht v. Netscape Communications Corp.	150 F. Supp. 2d 585	30
2007	In Re World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation	469 F. Supp. 2d 134	29
2006	In Re World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation	456 F. Supp. 2d 520	28
1999	Cruz v. Jordan	80 F. Supp. 2d 109	28
2007	Whitley v. Ercole	509 F. Supp. 2d 410	24
2005	American Civil Liberties Union v. Department of Defense	389 F. Supp. 2d 547	24
2011	Eyal R.D. Corp. v. Jewelex New York Ltd.	784 F. Supp. 2d 441	23
2006	In Re Sept. 11 Property Damage and Business Loss Litigation	468 F. Supp. 2d 508	23
2003	Chu Chung v. NEW SILVER PALACE RESTAURANT, INC.	272 F. Supp. 2d 314	23

Showing the 15 most-cited of 114 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Alvin K. Hellerstein?: President William J. Clinton appointed Alvin K. Hellerstein to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1998.
Was Alvin K. Hellerstein appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Alvin K. Hellerstein was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Alvin K. Hellerstein's confirmation vote?: Alvin K. Hellerstein was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Alvin K. Hellerstein on?: Alvin K. Hellerstein is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

27 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).