Kevin Thomas Duffy
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Kevin Thomas Duffy 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 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1933–2020
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Fordham College 1954 · Fordham Law 1958
- Succeeded
- Irving Ben Cooper
- Succeeded by
- Richard M. Berman
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Southern District of New York succeeded Irving Ben Cooper | Nixon (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
| Fordham College | A.B. | 1954 |
| Fordham University School of Law | LL.B. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Duffy was assigned 2,329 district-court cases (1976–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 352 days across 2,325 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 18 of Duffy’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 15 were affirmed, 1 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, Duffy authored 567 published opinions for the court (1973–2011). Most cited: Conan Properties, Inc. v. Mattel, Inc. (82 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Conan Properties, Inc. v. Mattel, Inc. | 619 F. Supp. 1167 | 82 |
| 1978 | Special Event Entertainment v. Rockefeller Center, Inc. | 458 F. Supp. 72 | 60 |
| 1979 | Le Sportsac, Inc. v. Dockside Research, Inc. | 478 F. Supp. 602 | 58 |
| 1991 | Shimer v. Fugazy (In Re Fugazy Express, Inc.) | 124 B.R. 426 | 57 |
| 1983 | DISTRICT 65, UAW v. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. | 576 F. Supp. 1468 | 57 |
| 1980 | Selman v. Harvard Medical School | 494 F. Supp. 603 | 55 |
| 1979 | Stratton Group, Ltd. v. Sprayregen | 466 F. Supp. 1180 | 54 |
| 1983 | Mauriber v. Shearson/American Express, Inc. | 567 F. Supp. 1231 | 50 |
| 1974 | Mercu-Ray Industries, Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Company | 392 F. Supp. 16 | 46 |
| 1980 | Levitch v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. | 495 F. Supp. 649 | 43 |
| 1993 | R.H. Damon & Co. v. Softkey Software Products, Inc. | 811 F. Supp. 986 | 41 |
| 1981 | Hellenic Lines, Ltd. v. O'HEARN | 523 F. Supp. 244 | 40 |
| 1981 | Lauratex Textile Corp. v. Allton Knitting Mills Inc. | 519 F. Supp. 730 | 39 |
| 1985 | Mechigian v. Art Capital Corp. | 612 F. Supp. 1421 | 38 |
| 1980 | Häagen-Dazs, Inc. v. Frusen Glädjé Ltd. | 493 F. Supp. 73 | 36 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 567 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 Kevin Thomas Duffy?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Kevin Thomas Duffy to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1972.
- Was Kevin Thomas Duffy appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Kevin Thomas Duffy was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Kevin Thomas Duffy's confirmation vote?
- Kevin Thomas Duffy was confirmed by voice vote on October 12, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Kevin Thomas Duffy on?
- Kevin Thomas Duffy 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.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
43 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).