Laura Taylor Swain
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Laura Taylor Swain is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1982. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1958 · age 68
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 2000
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Radcliffe College 1979 · Harvard Law School 1982
- Succeeded
- Thomas Poole Griesa
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Southern District of New York succeeded Thomas Poole Griesa | 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
| Radcliffe College | A.B. | 1979 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1982 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Swain was assigned 9,262 district-court cases (1989–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 104 days across 8,592 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 281 of Swain’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 218 were affirmed, 35 reversed or vacated, and 28 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, Swain authored 113 published opinions for the court (2000–2011). Most cited: Molefe v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (340 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Molefe v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines | 602 F. Supp. 2d 485 | 340 |
| 2009 | McDonaugh v. Astrue | 672 F. Supp. 2d 542 | 107 |
| 2007 | International Healthcare Exchange, Inc. v. Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC | 470 F. Supp. 2d 345 | 95 |
| 2004 | In Re Citigroup, Inc. Securities Litigation | 330 F. Supp. 2d 367 | 59 |
| 2001 | Reliance Insurance v. Six Star, Inc. | 155 F. Supp. 2d 49 | 58 |
| 2005 | Saleh v. Ridge | 367 F. Supp. 2d 508 | 51 |
| 2011 | Fink v. Time Warner Cable | 810 F. Supp. 2d 633 | 43 |
| 2010 | In Re American International Group, Inc. 2008 Securities Litigation | 741 F. Supp. 2d 511 | 39 |
| 2009 | Kirk v. Burge | 646 F. Supp. 2d 534 | 39 |
| 2004 | Schultz v. Stoner | 308 F. Supp. 2d 289 | 39 |
| 2001 | Dallas v. Goldberg | 143 F. Supp. 2d 312 | 34 |
| 2011 | Thomas v. Calero | 824 F. Supp. 2d 488 | 31 |
| 2011 | Molchatsky v. United States | 778 F. Supp. 2d 421 | 30 |
| 2008 | In Re Pfizer Inc. Securities Litigation | 584 F. Supp. 2d 621 | 30 |
| 2003 | UniCredito Italiano SPA v. JPMorgan Chase Bank | 288 F. Supp. 2d 485 | 30 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 113 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 Laura Taylor Swain?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Laura Taylor Swain to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2000.
- Was Laura Taylor Swain appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Laura Taylor Swain was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Laura Taylor Swain's confirmation vote?
- Laura Taylor Swain was confirmed by voice vote on June 16, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Laura Taylor Swain on?
- Laura Taylor Swain 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.
- 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.
26 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).