Colleen McMahon
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Colleen McMahon is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Ohio State 1973 · Harvard Law School 1976
- Succeeded
- John Fontaine Keenan
- Succeeded by
- Jessica Gloria Lynn Clarke
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Southern District of New York succeeded John Fontaine Keenan | 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
| Ohio State University | B.A. | 1973 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, McMahon was assigned 10,098 district-court cases (1973–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 119 days across 9,869 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 417 of McMahon’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 281 were affirmed, 74 reversed or vacated, and 62 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, McMahon authored 632 published opinions for the court (1999–2011). Most cited: Kehr Ex Rel. Kehr v. Yamaha Motor Corp., USA (352 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Kehr Ex Rel. Kehr v. Yamaha Motor Corp., USA | 596 F. Supp. 2d 821 | 352 |
| 2007 | Lynch v. United Services Automobile Ass'n | 491 F. Supp. 2d 357 | 211 |
| 2002 | Hall v. City of White Plains | 185 F. Supp. 2d 293 | 191 |
| 2011 | Bermudez v. City of New York | 783 F. Supp. 2d 560 | 168 |
| 2009 | Omnipoint Communications, Inc. v. Town of LaGrange | 658 F. Supp. 2d 539 | 156 |
| 2010 | New York City Triathlon, LLC v. Nyc Triathlon Club, Inc. | 704 F. Supp. 2d 305 | 110 |
| 2010 | Chiste v. Hotels.com L.P. | 756 F. Supp. 2d 382 | 88 |
| 2002 | Brogdon v. City of New Rochelle | 200 F. Supp. 2d 411 | 83 |
| 2006 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. v. Lexar Media, Inc. | 415 F. Supp. 2d 370 | 80 |
| 2002 | Maley v. Del Global Technologies Corp. | 186 F. Supp. 2d 358 | 71 |
| 2008 | ESPN, Inc. v. Quiksilver, Inc. | 581 F. Supp. 2d 542 | 70 |
| 2009 | Jones v. Harris | 665 F. Supp. 2d 384 | 69 |
| 2008 | Siddiqi v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp. | 572 F. Supp. 2d 353 | 67 |
| 2009 | Reilly v. Revlon, Inc. | 620 F. Supp. 2d 524 | 66 |
| 2009 | Schanfield v. Sojitz Corp. of America | 663 F. Supp. 2d 305 | 61 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 632 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 Colleen McMahon?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Colleen McMahon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1998.
- Was Colleen McMahon appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Colleen McMahon was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Colleen McMahon's confirmation vote?
- Colleen McMahon was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Colleen McMahon on?
- Colleen McMahon 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.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
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).