Northern District of New York / Appointed 1976 / Served to 2008

Howard G. Munson

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

Appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and confirmed by voice vote, Howard G. Munson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 1952. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1924–2008
Appointed by
Gerald Ford, 1976
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Pennsylvania 1948 · Syracuse College of Law 1952
Succeeded
Edmund Port
Succeeded by
Rosemary S. Pooler

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1976Northern District of New York
succeeded Edmund Port
Ford (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Munson was assigned 1,241 district-court cases (1979–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 640 days across 1,240 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas20%
Civil rights17%
Personal-injury torts15%
Contract14%
Labor & ERISA10%
Other federal statutes8%
Other17%

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.

In our data, Munson authored 310 published opinions for the court (1977–2006). Most cited: Holdridge v. Heyer-Schulte Corp. of Santa Barbara (74 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1977Holdridge v. Heyer-Schulte Corp. of Santa Barbara440 F. Supp. 108874
1996United States v. Lamb945 F. Supp. 44157
1977Bellnier v. Lund438 F. Supp. 4756
1979Optivision, Inc. v. Syracuse Shopping Center Associates472 F. Supp. 66547
1983United States v. Konefal566 F. Supp. 69841
1977Car-Freshner Corp. v. Auto Aid Manufacturing Corp.438 F. Supp. 8241
1979Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co.470 F. Supp. 130839
1989Blue Sky Entertainment, Inc. v. Town of Gardiner711 F. Supp. 67837
1981Calkins v. Blum511 F. Supp. 107337
1988Blackwelder v. Safnauer689 F. Supp. 10636
1987Long Island Lighting Co. v. Cuomo666 F. Supp. 37036
1984SMI Industries Canada Ltd. v. Caelter Industries, Inc.586 F. Supp. 80836
1982United States v. Lilla534 F. Supp. 124735
1978Spicer v. Califano461 F. Supp. 4033
1979Thompson v. State of NY487 F. Supp. 21232

Showing the 15 most-cited of 310 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 Howard G. Munson?
President Gerald Ford appointed Howard G. Munson to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in 1976.
Was Howard G. Munson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Howard G. Munson was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Howard G. Munson's confirmation vote?
Howard G. Munson was confirmed by voice vote on September 23, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Howard G. Munson on?
Howard G. Munson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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