Who appointed David S. Cercone?

President George W. Bush appointed David S. Cercone to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2002.

Was David S. Cercone appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

David S. Cercone was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was David S. Cercone's confirmation vote?

David S. Cercone was confirmed by voice vote on August 1, 2002. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Western District of Pennsylvania / Appointed 2002 / Senior status since 2017

David S. Cercone

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by voice vote, David S. Cercone is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Duquesne University School of Law in 1977. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1952 · age 74
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2002
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania 1974 · Duquesne Law 1977
Succeeded: Donald John Lee
Succeeded by: Stephanie Lou Haines

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2002	Western District of Pennsylvania succeeded Donald John Lee	G.W. Bush (R)	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

Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania	B.A.	1974
Duquesne University School of Law	J.D.	1977

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Cercone was assigned 3,560 district-court cases (1994–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 227 days across 3,357 closed cases.

Civil rights23%

Contract13%

Other civil matters11%

Labor & ERISA11%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Personal-injury torts8%

Other25%

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 268 of Cercone’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 227 were affirmed, 27 reversed or vacated, and 14 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, Cercone authored 33 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Jacobs v. CNG Transmission Corp. (40 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	Jacobs v. CNG Transmission Corp.	332 F. Supp. 2d 759	40
2011	Kriss v. Fayette County	827 F. Supp. 2d 477	33
2004	Gaines v. Krawczyk	354 F. Supp. 2d 573	21
2006	Zokaites v. Land-Cellular Corp.	424 F. Supp. 2d 824	16
2005	Jones v. Indiana Area School District	397 F. Supp. 2d 628	14
2003	World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. v. Big Dog Holdings, Inc.	280 F. Supp. 2d 413	14
2006	In Re PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.	440 F. Supp. 2d 421	11
2003	Golden v. Cook	293 F. Supp. 2d 546	11
2009	Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Evans	421 B.R. 193	10
2011	Ramsey v. CITY OF PITTSBURGH, PA.	764 F. Supp. 2d 728	8
2009	United States v. Mitchell	681 F. Supp. 2d 597	8
2006	Thomas v. Board of Education of West Greene School District	467 F. Supp. 2d 483	8
2011	Harris v. BUREAU OF PRISONS (BOP) FEDERAL	787 F. Supp. 2d 350	6
2011	Shanefelter v. United States Steel Corp.	784 F. Supp. 2d 550	6
2005	Amato v. UPMC	371 F. Supp. 2d 752	6

Showing the 15 most-cited of 33 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 David S. Cercone?: President George W. Bush appointed David S. Cercone to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2002.
Was David S. Cercone appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: David S. Cercone was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David S. Cercone's confirmation vote?: David S. Cercone was confirmed by voice vote on August 1, 2002. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is David S. Cercone on?: David S. Cercone is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

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.

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