Who appointed Cecilia M. Altonaga?

President George W. Bush appointed Cecilia M. Altonaga to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 2003.

Was Cecilia M. Altonaga appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Cecilia M. Altonaga was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Cecilia M. Altonaga's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Cecilia M. Altonaga 91–0 on May 6, 2003.

Southern District of Florida / Appointed 2003 / Active

Cecilia M. Altonaga

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by the Senate 91–0, Cecilia M. Altonaga is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1986. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1962 · age 64
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2003
Confirmed: 91–0
Education: Florida International 1983 · Yale Law School 1986
Succeeded: Shelby Highsmith

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2003	Southern District of Florida succeeded Shelby Highsmith	G.W. Bush (R)	91–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

The senator-by-senator roll call for this vote hasn’t been ingested yet.

Education

Florida International University	B.A.	1983
Yale Law School	J.D.	1986

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Altonaga was assigned 10,255 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 101 days across 9,803 closed cases.

Civil rights15%

Other civil matters14%

Labor & ERISA13%

Contract12%

Personal-injury torts12%

Prisoner & habeas11%

Other23%

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 Altonaga’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 452 were affirmed, 51 reversed or vacated, and 32 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, Altonaga authored 89 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: Aung Lin Wai v. Rainbow Holdings (56 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
2004	Aung Lin Wai v. Rainbow Holdings	315 F. Supp. 2d 1261	56
2006	Alphamed Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Arriva Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	432 F. Supp. 2d 1319	48
2010	Kenneth F. Hackett & Associates, Inc. v. GE Capital Information Tech. Solutions, Inc.	744 F. Supp. 2d 1305	46
2004	Sims v. Clarendon National Insurance	336 F. Supp. 2d 1311	42
2009	Galstaldi v. SUNVEST COMMUNITIES USA, LLC	637 F. Supp. 2d 1045	38
2004	Compania De Elaborados De Café v. Cardinal Capital Management, Inc.	401 F. Supp. 2d 1270	29
2011	Central Magnetic Imaging Open MRI of Plantation, Ltd. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance	789 F. Supp. 2d 1311	18
2005	Williams v. Edelman	408 F. Supp. 2d 1261	18
2011	Lazarre v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.	780 F. Supp. 2d 1320	17
2008	League of Women Voters of Florida v. Browning	575 F. Supp. 2d 1298	17
2007	Pinto v. Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd.	513 F. Supp. 2d 1334	17
2006	Posely v. Eckerd Corp.	433 F. Supp. 2d 1287	17
2008	Sundance Apartments I, Inc. v. General Electric Capital Corp.	581 F. Supp. 2d 1215	16
2004	Richardson v. Tricom Pictures & Productions, Inc.	334 F. Supp. 2d 1303	15
2010	Desert Fire Protection v. Fontainebleau Las Vegas Holdings, LLC (In Re Fontainebleau Las Vegas Holdings, LLC)	434 B.R. 716	14

Showing the 15 most-cited of 89 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 Cecilia M. Altonaga?: President George W. Bush appointed Cecilia M. Altonaga to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 2003.
Was Cecilia M. Altonaga appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Cecilia M. Altonaga was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Cecilia M. Altonaga's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Cecilia M. Altonaga 91–0 on May 6, 2003.
Which court is Cecilia M. Altonaga on?: Cecilia M. Altonaga is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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