Who appointed John Fontaine Keenan?

President Ronald Reagan appointed John Fontaine Keenan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1983.

Was John Fontaine Keenan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

John Fontaine Keenan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was John Fontaine Keenan's confirmation vote?

John Fontaine Keenan was confirmed by voice vote on September 20, 1983. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of New York / Appointed 1983 / Served to 2024

John Fontaine Keenan

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

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and confirmed by voice vote, John Fontaine Keenan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1954. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1929–2024
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1983
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Manhattan College 1951 · Fordham Law 1954
Succeeded: Lloyd Francis MacMahon
Succeeded by: Colleen McMahon

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1983	Southern District of New York succeeded Lloyd Francis MacMahon	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

Manhattan College	B.B.A.	1951
Fordham University School of Law	LL.B.	1954

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Keenan was assigned 4,686 district-court cases (1982–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 558 days across 4,684 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts37%

Contract21%

Prisoner & habeas8%

Intellectual property7%

Labor & ERISA5%

Civil rights5%

Other16%

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 55 of Keenan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 41 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Keenan authored 167 published opinions for the court (1984–2011). Most cited: In Re Warner Communications Securities Litigation (143 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
1985	In Re Warner Communications Securities Litigation	618 F. Supp. 735	143
2009	In Re Fosamax Products Liability Litigation	645 F. Supp. 2d 164	135
1985	United States v. Persico	621 F. Supp. 842	97
2008	380544 Canada, Inc. v. Aspen Technology, Inc.	544 F. Supp. 2d 199	83
1985	Hassett v. Weissman (In Re O.P.M. Leasing Services, Inc.)	48 B.R. 824	75
1999	Time Warner Cable of New York City v. Googies Luncheonette, Inc.	77 F. Supp. 2d 485	61
1986	In Re Union Carbide Corporation Gas Plant Disaster	634 F. Supp. 842	52
2010	Tamam v. Fransabank Sal	677 F. Supp. 2d 720	51
1997	Coker v. Bank of America	984 F. Supp. 757	37
1992	In Re CIS Corp.	142 B.R. 640	36
1990	Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Hearst/ABC Viacom Entertainment Services	746 F. Supp. 320	33
1988	Hemming v. Alfin Fragrances, Inc.	690 F. Supp. 239	27
1986	International Distribution Centers, Inc. v. Walsh Trucking Co.	62 B.R. 723	27
1984	Friedman v. Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America	589 F. Supp. 1017	27
2000	Lehman Bros. Commercial v. Minmetals International Non-Ferrous Metals Trading Co.	179 F. Supp. 2d 118	25

Showing the 15 most-cited of 167 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 Fontaine Keenan?: President Ronald Reagan appointed John Fontaine Keenan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1983.
Was John Fontaine Keenan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John Fontaine Keenan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was John Fontaine Keenan's confirmation vote?: John Fontaine Keenan was confirmed by voice vote on September 20, 1983. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was John Fontaine Keenan on?: John Fontaine Keenan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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.

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