Who appointed Edward Francis Harrington?

President Ronald Reagan appointed Edward Francis Harrington to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1988.

Was Edward Francis Harrington appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Edward Francis Harrington was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Edward Francis Harrington's confirmation vote?

Edward Francis Harrington was confirmed by voice vote on February 19, 1988. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Massachusetts / Appointed 1988 / Served to 2025

Edward Francis Harrington

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and confirmed by voice vote, Edward Francis Harrington was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned a law degree from Boston College Law School in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1933–2025
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1988
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: College of the Holy Cross 1955 · Boston College Law School 1960
Succeeded: Andrew Augustine Caffrey

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1988	District of Massachusetts succeeded Andrew Augustine Caffrey	Reagan (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

College of the Holy Cross	A.B.	1955
Boston College Law School	J.D.	1960

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Harrington was assigned 4,124 district-court cases (1981–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 310 days across 4,123 closed cases.

Contract24%

Personal-injury torts14%

Civil rights12%

Labor & ERISA10%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Other federal statutes9%

Other22%

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 28 of Harrington’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 24 were affirmed, 4 reversed or vacated. 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, Harrington authored 182 published opinions for the court (1988–2011). Most cited: Nollet v. Justices of the Trial Court of Massachusetts (217 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
2000	Nollet v. Justices of the Trial Court of Massachusetts	83 F. Supp. 2d 204	217
1991	In Re Bank of Boston Corp. Securities Litigation	762 F. Supp. 1525	64
1997	Friedberg v. Discreet Logic Inc.	959 F. Supp. 42	38
1994	In Re Kendall Square Research Corp. Securities Litigation	868 F. Supp. 26	37
2000	Omnipoint Communications MB Operations, LLC v. Town of Lincoln	107 F. Supp. 2d 108	36
1991	Gaskell v. Harvard Cooperative Society	762 F. Supp. 1539	29
1993	Mayo v. Key Financial Services Inc.	812 F. Supp. 277	25
1988	Tolan v. Computervision Corp.	696 F. Supp. 771	23
1996	Shahzade v. Gregory	923 F. Supp. 286	21
1989	Alves v. Siegel's Broadway Auto Parts, Inc.	710 F. Supp. 864	18
1997	United States v. Meade	986 F. Supp. 66	17
1993	Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Continental Financial Resources, Inc. (In Re Continental Financial Resources, Inc.)	154 B.R. 385	17
1993	Compagnie De Reassurance D'Ile De France v. New England Reinsurance Corp.	825 F. Supp. 370	16
2000	A.M.L. International, Inc. v. Daley	107 F. Supp. 2d 90	15
1999	Newbanks v. Central Gulf Lines, Inc.	64 F. Supp. 2d 1	15

Showing the 15 most-cited of 182 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 Edward Francis Harrington?: President Ronald Reagan appointed Edward Francis Harrington to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1988.
Was Edward Francis Harrington appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Edward Francis Harrington was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Edward Francis Harrington's confirmation vote?: Edward Francis Harrington was confirmed by voice vote on February 19, 1988. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Edward Francis Harrington on?: Edward Francis Harrington was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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.

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