Who appointed Dennis M. Cavanaugh?

President William J. Clinton appointed Dennis M. Cavanaugh to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2000.

Was Dennis M. Cavanaugh appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Dennis M. Cavanaugh was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Dennis M. Cavanaugh's confirmation vote?

Dennis M. Cavanaugh was confirmed by voice vote on July 21, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of New Jersey / Appointed 2000 / Served to 2014

Dennis M. Cavanaugh

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Dennis M. Cavanaugh was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He earned a law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1947 · age 79
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 2000
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Morehead State 1969 · Seton Hall Law 1972
Succeeded: Alfred M. Wolin
Succeeded by: Madeline Cox Arleo

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2000	District of New Jersey succeeded Alfred M. Wolin	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

Morehead State University	B.A.	1969
Seton Hall University School of Law	J.D.	1972

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Cavanaugh was assigned 3,890 district-court cases (1989–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 188 days across 3,889 closed cases.

Contract20%

Labor & ERISA15%

Personal-injury torts14%

Civil rights12%

Other federal statutes11%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Other18%

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 129 of Cavanaugh’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 105 were affirmed, 17 reversed or vacated, and 7 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, Cavanaugh authored 18 published opinions for the court (2001–2010). Most cited: Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc. (86 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
2002	Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc.	215 F. Supp. 2d 482	86
2003	Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc.	263 F. Supp. 2d 796	33
2001	Rohm and Haas Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.	187 F. Supp. 2d 221	25
2007	Raspa v. Home Depot	533 F. Supp. 2d 514	14
2001	Johnson v. Guhl	166 F. Supp. 2d 42	14
2005	New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Exxon Mobil Corp.	381 F. Supp. 2d 398	9
2008	Gonzalez v. Astrue	564 F. Supp. 2d 317	6
2004	Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc.	336 F. Supp. 2d 370	6
2002	Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc.	188 F. Supp. 2d 486	6
2008	MENTER v. Astrue	572 F. Supp. 2d 563	5
2009	Eli Lilly and Co. v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC	676 F. Supp. 2d 352	4
2005	United States Ex Rel. Botnick v. Cathedral Healthcare System, Inc.	352 F. Supp. 2d 530	3
2002	Hurn v. United States	221 F. Supp. 2d 493	3
2002	Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc.	204 F. Supp. 2d 804	2
2010	Eli Lilly and Co. v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC	731 F. Supp. 2d 348	1

Showing the 15 most-cited of 18 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 Dennis M. Cavanaugh?: President William J. Clinton appointed Dennis M. Cavanaugh to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2000.
Was Dennis M. Cavanaugh appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Dennis M. Cavanaugh was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Dennis M. Cavanaugh's confirmation vote?: Dennis M. Cavanaugh was confirmed by voice vote on July 21, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Dennis M. Cavanaugh on?: Dennis M. Cavanaugh was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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.

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