Constance Baker Motley
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and confirmed by voice vote, Constance Baker Motley was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1946. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1921–2005
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- New York 1943 · Columbia Law School 1946
- Succeeded
- Archie Owen Dawson
- Succeeded by
- Kimba Maureen Wood
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Southern District of New York succeeded Archie Owen Dawson | L.B. Johnson (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
| New York University | B.A. | 1943 |
| Columbia Law School | LL.B. | 1946 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Motley was assigned 653 district-court cases (1976–2005). Median time from filing to termination: 460 days across 653 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.
In our data, Motley authored 603 published opinions for the court (1966–2005). Most cited: Sostre v. Rockefeller (95 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Sostre v. Rockefeller | 312 F. Supp. 863 | 95 |
| 1999 | Sara Lee Corp. v. Bags of New York, Inc. | 36 F. Supp. 2d 161 | 78 |
| 1992 | Center Cadillac, Inc. v. Bank Leumi Trust Co. | 808 F. Supp. 213 | 72 |
| 1994 | Dwyer v. General Motors Corp. | 853 F. Supp. 690 | 66 |
| 1985 | Allen v. National Video, Inc. | 610 F. Supp. 612 | 66 |
| 1991 | Basic Books, Inc. v. Kinko's Graphics Corp. | 758 F. Supp. 1522 | 54 |
| 1985 | Kyung Sup Ahn, M.C., P.C. v. Rooney, Pace Inc. | 624 F. Supp. 368 | 52 |
| 1984 | In Re Johns-Manville Corp. | 39 B.R. 234 | 52 |
| 1992 | Cauff, Lippman & Co. v. Apogee Finance Group, Inc. | 807 F. Supp. 1007 | 51 |
| 1996 | Neufeld v. Neufeld | 910 F. Supp. 977 | 49 |
| 1989 | Seagoing Uniform Corp. v. Texaco, Inc. | 705 F. Supp. 918 | 49 |
| 1997 | Bellepointe, Inc. v. Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. | 975 F. Supp. 562 | 46 |
| 1987 | United States v. Biaggi | 675 F. Supp. 790 | 46 |
| 1999 | Giles v. City of New York | 41 F. Supp. 2d 308 | 45 |
| 1982 | Boothe v. TRW Credit Data | 557 F. Supp. 66 | 45 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 603 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 Constance Baker Motley?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Constance Baker Motley to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1966.
- Was Constance Baker Motley appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Constance Baker Motley was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Constance Baker Motley's confirmation vote?
- Constance Baker Motley was confirmed by voice vote on August 30, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Constance Baker Motley on?
- Constance Baker Motley was 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: Walter Albertin (World Telegram & Sun); restored by Adam Cuerden (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.
39 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).