Who appointed Denny Chin?

President Barack Obama appointed Denny Chin to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2010.

Was Denny Chin appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Denny Chin was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Denny Chin's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Denny Chin 98–0 on April 22, 2010.

Second Circuit / Appointed 2010 / Senior status since 2021

Denny Chin

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 and confirmed by the Senate 98–0, Denny Chin is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He earned a law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1978. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1954 · age 72
Appointed by: Barack Obama, 2010
Confirmed: 98–0
Education: Princeton 1975 · Fordham Law 1978
Succeeded: Robert David Sack
Succeeded by: Myrna Pérez

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1994	Southern District of New York	Clinton (D)	Voice vote
2010	Second Circuit succeeded Robert David Sack	Obama (D)	98–0

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

Nomination Confirmed 98–0 on April 22, 2010 · 111th Congress, Roll Call 123. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 98

56 D, 40 R, 2 I

Did not vote · 2

1 D, 1 R

James DeMint(R-SC)
Edward Kaufman(D-DE)

Education

Princeton University	B.A.	1975
Fordham University School of Law	J.D.	1978

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Chin was assigned 4,338 district-court cases (1974–2021). Median time from filing to termination: 264 days across 4,332 closed cases.

Contract26%

Civil rights13%

Personal-injury torts12%

Prisoner & habeas11%

Other federal statutes9%

Labor & ERISA8%

Other21%

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 105 of Chin’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 87 were affirmed, 9 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Chin authored 437 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Sony Music Entertainment Inc. v. Does 1-40 (1,274 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2004	Sony Music Entertainment Inc. v. Does 1-40	326 F. Supp. 2d 556	1,274
1995	641 Avenue of the Americas Ltd. Partnership v. 641 Associates, Ltd.	189 B.R. 583	246
1998	Doe v. Pataki	3 F. Supp. 2d 456	192
1995	Trustees of the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund v. Transworld Mechanical, Inc.	886 F. Supp. 1134	166
2003	McCoy v. Goord	255 F. Supp. 2d 233	136
2001	Strother v. Harte	171 F. Supp. 2d 203	99
2006	Merck & Co. v. Mediplan Health Consulting, Inc.	425 F. Supp. 2d 402	82
1998	Lapsley v. Columbia University-College of Physicians & Surgeons	999 F. Supp. 506	70
2010	Sykes v. Mel Harris and Associates, LLC	757 F. Supp. 2d 413	69
2008	Gonzalez v. Caballero	572 F. Supp. 2d 463	69
2007	Little v. City of New York	487 F. Supp. 2d 426	65
2008	Energy Brands Inc. v. Spiritual Brands, Inc.	571 F. Supp. 2d 458	62
2003	Lippe v. Bairnco Corp.	288 B.R. 678	62
2009	Atlantic Recording Corp. v. Project Playlist, Inc.	603 F. Supp. 2d 690	57
2003	Lippe v. Bairnco Corp.	249 F. Supp. 2d 357	57

Showing the 15 most-cited of 437 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 Denny Chin?: President Barack Obama appointed Denny Chin to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2010.
Was Denny Chin appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Denny Chin was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Denny Chin's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Denny Chin 98–0 on April 22, 2010.
Which court is Denny Chin on?: Denny Chin is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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.

16 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).