Esther Salas
Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 and confirmed by voice vote, Esther Salas is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. She earned a law degree from Rutgers School of Law -- Newark in 1994. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1968 · age 58
- Appointed by
- Barack Obama, 2011
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Rutgers 1991 · Rutgers Law -- Newark 1994
- Succeeded
- Katharine Sweeney Hayden
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | District of New Jersey succeeded Katharine Sweeney Hayden | Obama (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
| Rutgers University | B.A. | 1991 |
| Rutgers School of Law -- Newark | J.D. | 1994 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Salas was assigned 4,892 district-court cases (1993–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 210 days across 4,189 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.
On appeal
Of 124 of Salas’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 107 were affirmed, 10 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, Salas authored 2 published opinions for the court (2008–2010). Most cited: Eisai Co., Ltd. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. (3 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Eisai Co., Ltd. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 557 F. Supp. 2d 490 | 3 |
| 2010 | In Re the Extradition of Aquino | 697 F. Supp. 2d 586 | 1 |
Showing the 2 most-cited of 2 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 Esther Salas?
- President Barack Obama appointed Esther Salas to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2011.
- Was Esther Salas appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Esther Salas was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Esther Salas's confirmation vote?
- Esther Salas was confirmed by voice vote on June 14, 2011. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Esther Salas on?
- Esther Salas is 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.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (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.
15 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).