Who appointed Kenneth M. Karas?

President George W. Bush appointed Kenneth M. Karas to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2004.

Was Kenneth M. Karas appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Kenneth M. Karas was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Kenneth M. Karas's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Kenneth M. Karas 95–0 on June 3, 2004.

Southern District of New York / Appointed 2004 / Active

Kenneth M. Karas

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

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004 and confirmed by the Senate 95–0, Kenneth M. Karas is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1991. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1964 · age 62
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2004
Confirmed: 95–0
Education: Georgetown 1986 · Columbia Law School 1991
Succeeded: Allen G. Schwartz

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2004	Southern District of New York succeeded Allen G. Schwartz	G.W. Bush (R)	95–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 95–0 on June 3, 2004 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 109. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 95

44 D, 50 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 5

4 D, 1 R

Education

Georgetown University	B.A.	1986
Columbia Law School	J.D.	1991

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Karas was assigned 4,665 district-court cases (1987–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 236 days across 4,187 closed cases.

Other civil matters23%

Labor & ERISA16%

Civil rights13%

Other federal statutes10%

Contract9%

Personal-injury torts6%

Other22%

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 170 of Karas’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 142 were affirmed, 16 reversed or vacated, and 12 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, Karas authored 77 published opinions for the court (2005–2012). Most cited: DESKOVIC v. City of Peekskill (166 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
2009	DESKOVIC v. City of Peekskill	673 F. Supp. 2d 154	166
2010	Saenger v. Montefiore Medical Center	706 F. Supp. 2d 494	131
2006	Foti v. NCO Financial Systems, Inc.	424 F. Supp. 2d 643	106
2006	Hill v. Rayboy-Brauestein	467 F. Supp. 2d 336	104
2006	Federal Insurance Company v. TYCO INTERNATIONAL	422 F. Supp. 2d 357	97
2011	Smith v. Westchester County	769 F. Supp. 2d 448	94
2006	Abercrombie v. Andrew College	438 F. Supp. 2d 243	94
2008	Medtech Products Inc. v. RANIR, LLC	596 F. Supp. 2d 778	71
2007	Century Pacific, Inc. v. Hilton Hotels Corp.	528 F. Supp. 2d 206	71
2008	Darby Trading Inc. v. Shell International Trading & Shipping Co.	568 F. Supp. 2d 329	70
2009	MBIA Ins. Corp. v. Royal Bank of Canada	706 F. Supp. 2d 380	68
2011	Grimes v. Fremont General Corp.	785 F. Supp. 2d 269	65
2011	Missere v. Gross	826 F. Supp. 2d 542	64
2011	Bobrowsky v. Yonkers Courthouse	777 F. Supp. 2d 692	61
2006	Lapin v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.	506 F. Supp. 2d 221	61

Showing the 15 most-cited of 77 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 Kenneth M. Karas?: President George W. Bush appointed Kenneth M. Karas to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2004.
Was Kenneth M. Karas appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Kenneth M. Karas was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Kenneth M. Karas's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Kenneth M. Karas 95–0 on June 3, 2004.
Which court is Kenneth M. Karas on?: Kenneth M. Karas is 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.

22 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).