Who appointed John Emilio Sprizzo?

President Ronald Reagan appointed John Emilio Sprizzo to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1981.

Was John Emilio Sprizzo appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

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

What was John Emilio Sprizzo's confirmation vote?

John Emilio Sprizzo was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of New York / Appointed 1981 / Served to 2008

John Emilio Sprizzo

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

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, John Emilio Sprizzo was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1959. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1934–2008
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1981
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: St. John's 1956 · St. John's Law 1959
Succeeded: Charles Henry Tenney
Succeeded by: Gerard E. Lynch

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1981	Southern District of New York succeeded Charles Henry Tenney	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

St. John's University	B.A.	1956
St. John's University School of Law	LL.B.	1959

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Sprizzo was assigned 3,656 district-court cases (1974–2008). Median time from filing to termination: 376 days across 3,653 closed cases.

Contract29%

Personal-injury torts11%

Intellectual property9%

Antitrust, securities & banking9%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Labor & ERISA9%

Other25%

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 11 of Sprizzo’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 11 were affirmed, 0 reversed or vacated. 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, Sprizzo authored 441 published opinions for the court (1982–2008). Most cited: Range Road Music, Inc. v. Music Sales Corp. (272 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
2000	Range Road Music, Inc. v. Music Sales Corp.	90 F. Supp. 2d 390	272
1992	Securities & Exchange Commission v. Waterhouse	797 F. Supp. 1217	84
1985	Dugar v. Coughlin	613 F. Supp. 849	59
1997	Pena v. Chater	968 F. Supp. 930	54
2000	Boekemeier v. FOURTH UNIVER. SOCIETY IN CITY OF NY	86 F. Supp. 2d 280	47
1990	United States v. Chateaugay Corp. (In Re Chateaugay Corp.)	112 B.R. 513	44
2000	Paco Sport, Ltd. v. Paco Rabanne Parfums	86 F. Supp. 2d 305	42
1984	In Re the Requested Extradition of Doherty Ex Rel. Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland	599 F. Supp. 270	36
1985	Darvin v. International Harvester Co.	610 F. Supp. 255	34
2004	In Re South African Apartheid Litigation	346 F. Supp. 2d 538	32
1993	Teachers Insurance & Annuity Ass'n of America v. Wometco Enterprises, Inc.	833 F. Supp. 344	32
1985	Toliver v. Community Action Commission to Help Economy, Inc.	613 F. Supp. 1070	32
1984	Donovan v. Kaszycki & Sons Contractors, Inc.	599 F. Supp. 860	32
1990	Lines v. Bank of America National Trust & Savings Ass'n	743 F. Supp. 176	29
2001	Breeden v. Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP	268 B.R. 704	28

Showing the 15 most-cited of 441 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 Emilio Sprizzo?: President Ronald Reagan appointed John Emilio Sprizzo to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1981.
Was John Emilio Sprizzo appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: John Emilio Sprizzo was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was John Emilio Sprizzo's confirmation vote?: John Emilio Sprizzo was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was John Emilio Sprizzo on?: John Emilio Sprizzo 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

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27 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).