Avern Levin Cohn
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Avern Levin Cohn was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1924–2022
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Michigan Law School 1949
- Succeeded by
- David M. Lawson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Eastern District of Michigan | Carter (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Cohn was assigned 7,758 district-court cases (1970–2019). Median time from filing to termination: 207 days across 7,745 closed cases.
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 229 of Cohn’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 184 were affirmed, 19 reversed or vacated, and 26 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, Cohn authored 290 published opinions for the court (1979–2011). Most cited: Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Alco Express Co. (55 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Alco Express Co. | 522 F. Supp. 919 | 55 |
| 1989 | Doe v. University of Michigan | 721 F. Supp. 852 | 44 |
| 1985 | Odgers v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. | 609 F. Supp. 867 | 40 |
| 1980 | German v. Killeen | 495 F. Supp. 822 | 39 |
| 2005 | Burton v. William Beaumont Hospital | 373 F. Supp. 2d 707 | 38 |
| 2003 | Rankin v. Rots | 278 F. Supp. 2d 853 | 34 |
| 1980 | Choate v. Landis Tool Co. | 486 F. Supp. 774 | 34 |
| 1980 | Bryant v. TRW, INC. | 487 F. Supp. 1234 | 33 |
| 1993 | United States v. Toti | 149 B.R. 829 | 29 |
| 1981 | Blake v. Secretary of Health & Human Services | 528 F. Supp. 881 | 28 |
| 1983 | In Re Jackson Lockdown/MCO Cases | 568 F. Supp. 869 | 26 |
| 1997 | Application of Wojcik v. Wojcik | 959 F. Supp. 413 | 25 |
| 1987 | Thomas v. Foltz | 654 F. Supp. 105 | 25 |
| 1999 | Hudson v. Jones | 35 F. Supp. 2d 986 | 22 |
| 1990 | Roberts Associates, Inc. v. Blazer International Corp. | 741 F. Supp. 650 | 22 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 290 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 Avern Levin Cohn?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Avern Levin Cohn to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1979.
- Was Avern Levin Cohn appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Avern Levin Cohn was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Avern Levin Cohn's confirmation vote?
- Avern Levin Cohn was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Avern Levin Cohn on?
- Avern Levin Cohn was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Government (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
42 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).