James Knoll Gardner
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and confirmed by voice vote, James Knoll Gardner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1940–2017
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2002
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale 1962 · Harvard Law School 1965
- Succeeded
- Jan Ely DuBois
- Succeeded by
- Joshua David Wolson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Eastern District of Pennsylvania succeeded Jan Ely DuBois | G.W. Bush (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
| Yale University | B.A. | 1962 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1965 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gardner was assigned 2,585 district-court cases (1988–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 307 days across 2,584 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 142 of Gardner’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 115 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 16 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, Gardner authored 27 published opinions for the court (2003–2011). Most cited: Atiyeh v. National Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford (162 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Atiyeh v. National Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford | 742 F. Supp. 2d 591 | 162 |
| 2007 | Anthony v. Small Tube Manufacturing Corp. | 535 F. Supp. 2d 506 | 27 |
| 2010 | Hobson v. St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network | 735 F. Supp. 2d 206 | 24 |
| 2010 | McNeil v. City of Easton | 694 F. Supp. 2d 375 | 21 |
| 2006 | Klump v. Nazareth Area School District | 425 F. Supp. 2d 622 | 19 |
| 2010 | White v. Brommer | 747 F. Supp. 2d 447 | 16 |
| 2008 | In Re Joobeen | 385 B.R. 599 | 11 |
| 2010 | Eckman v. LANCASTER CITY | 742 F. Supp. 2d 638 | 8 |
| 2009 | Reis v. BARLEY, SNYDER, SENFT & COHEN LLC | 667 F. Supp. 2d 471 | 8 |
| 2009 | Kuhns v. City of Allentown | 636 F. Supp. 2d 418 | 7 |
| 2008 | Madera v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co. | 388 B.R. 586 | 7 |
| 2007 | Reis v. Barley, Snyder, Senft & Cohen LLC. | 484 F. Supp. 2d 337 | 7 |
| 2011 | Fabral, Inc. v. B & B Roofing Co., Inc. | 773 F. Supp. 2d 539 | 6 |
| 2004 | DeVatt v. Lohenitz | 338 F. Supp. 2d 588 | 6 |
| 2003 | Scott Fetzer Co. v. Gehring | 288 F. Supp. 2d 696 | 6 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 27 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 James Knoll Gardner?
- President George W. Bush appointed James Knoll Gardner to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2002.
- Was James Knoll Gardner appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Knoll Gardner was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Knoll Gardner's confirmation vote?
- James Knoll Gardner was confirmed by voice vote on October 2, 2002. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Knoll Gardner on?
- James Knoll Gardner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
14 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).