John Thomas Curtin
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 and confirmed by voice vote, John Thomas Curtin was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. He earned a law degree from University of Buffalo Law School in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1921–2017
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Canisius College 1946 · University of Buffalo Law School 1949
- Succeeded by
- William M. Skretny
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Western District of New York | L.B. Johnson (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
| Canisius College | B.S. | 1946 |
| University of Buffalo Law School | LL.B. | 1949 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Curtin was assigned 2,879 district-court cases (1972–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 309 days across 2,878 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 51 of Curtin’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 41 were affirmed, 8 reversed or vacated, and 2 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, Curtin authored 496 published opinions for the court (1968–2011). Most cited: United States v. City of Buffalo (59 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | United States v. City of Buffalo | 457 F. Supp. 612 | 59 |
| 1982 | United States v. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. | 540 F. Supp. 1067 | 55 |
| 1993 | Poulsen v. City of North Tonawanda, NY | 811 F. Supp. 884 | 53 |
| 1976 | Magavern v. United States | 415 F. Supp. 217 | 52 |
| 1979 | Tobias v. Smith | 468 F. Supp. 1287 | 46 |
| 1970 | Kennedy Park Homes Ass'n v. City of Lackawanna | 318 F. Supp. 669 | 45 |
| 1988 | United States v. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. | 680 F. Supp. 546 | 38 |
| 1996 | Spurlock v. Nynex | 949 F. Supp. 1022 | 37 |
| 1987 | Sullivan v. Secretary of Health and Human Services | 666 F. Supp. 456 | 36 |
| 2003 | Baines v. Masiello | 288 F. Supp. 2d 376 | 35 |
| 1991 | Nolley v. County of Erie | 776 F. Supp. 715 | 34 |
| 1990 | Westwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. | 737 F. Supp. 1272 | 33 |
| 1979 | Sherry v. New York State Education Department | 479 F. Supp. 1328 | 32 |
| 1976 | Arthur v. Nyquist | 415 F. Supp. 904 | 32 |
| 1971 | United States Ex Rel. Walker v. Mancusi | 338 F. Supp. 311 | 31 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 496 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 John Thomas Curtin?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed John Thomas Curtin to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in 1967.
- Was John Thomas Curtin appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John Thomas Curtin was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John Thomas Curtin's confirmation vote?
- John Thomas Curtin was confirmed by voice vote on December 14, 1967. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John Thomas Curtin on?
- John Thomas Curtin was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (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.
49 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).