John Garvan Murtha
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, John Garvan Murtha is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont. He earned a law degree from University of Connecticut School of Law in 1968. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1941 · age 85
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1995
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale 1963 · University of Connecticut Law 1968
- Succeeded
- Franklin S. Billings Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Christina Clair Reiss
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | District of Vermont succeeded Franklin S. Billings Jr. | Clinton (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
| Yale University | B.A. | 1963 |
| University of Connecticut School of Law | LL.B. | 1968 |
| Georgetown University Law Center | LL.M. | 1970 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Murtha was assigned 2,785 district-court cases (1987–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 247 days across 2,778 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 115 of Murtha’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 99 were affirmed, 7 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Murtha authored 70 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: City of Burlington v. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance (24 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | City of Burlington v. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance | 190 F. Supp. 2d 663 | 24 |
| 2006 | R.L. Vallee, Inc. v. American International Specialty Lines Insurance | 431 F. Supp. 2d 428 | 16 |
| 2002 | Plourde v. Gladstone | 190 F. Supp. 2d 708 | 15 |
| 2005 | National Wildlife Federation v. Norton | 386 F. Supp. 2d 553 | 13 |
| 2009 | IMS Health Inc. v. Sorrell | 631 F. Supp. 2d 434 | 12 |
| 2002 | American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Dean | 202 F. Supp. 2d 300 | 12 |
| 2009 | Fortunati v. Campagne | 681 F. Supp. 2d 528 | 10 |
| 2000 | United States v. Holden | 258 B.R. 323 | 10 |
| 2009 | Brown v. Castleton State College | 663 F. Supp. 2d 392 | 9 |
| 1996 | Violette v. International Business MacHines Corp. | 962 F. Supp. 446 | 9 |
| 1996 | National Audubon Society v. Hoffman | 917 F. Supp. 280 | 9 |
| 2005 | Moffitt v. Icynene, Inc. | 407 F. Supp. 2d 591 | 8 |
| 2005 | Bouley v. Young-Sabourin | 394 F. Supp. 2d 675 | 8 |
| 2002 | Taylor v. Vermont Housing Finance Agency (In Re Taylor) | 286 B.R. 275 | 8 |
| 1995 | In Re Boroff | 189 B.R. 53 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 70 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 Garvan Murtha?
- President William J. Clinton appointed John Garvan Murtha to the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont in 1995.
- Was John Garvan Murtha appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John Garvan Murtha was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John Garvan Murtha's confirmation vote?
- John Garvan Murtha was confirmed by voice vote on May 25, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is John Garvan Murtha on?
- John Garvan Murtha is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.
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.
31 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).