Northern District of New York / Appointed 1996 / Senior status since 2007

Lawrence E. Kahn

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

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1996 and confirmed by voice vote, Lawrence E. Kahn is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1962. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1937 · age 89
Appointed by
William J. Clinton, 1996
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Union College 1959 · Harvard Law School 1962
Succeeded by
Glenn T. Suddaby

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1996Northern District of New YorkClinton (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Kahn was assigned 6,103 district-court cases (1974–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 287 days across 5,830 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas36%
Other civil matters12%
Personal-injury torts10%
Civil rights10%
Social Security8%
Contract5%
Other18%

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 307 of Kahn’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 249 were affirmed, 34 reversed or vacated, and 24 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, Kahn authored 276 published opinions for the court (1997–2011). Most cited: Roat v. Barnhart (152 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
2010Roat v. Barnhart717 F. Supp. 2d 241152
1999Lewis v. Apfel62 F. Supp. 2d 64845
2010Mortise v. Astrue713 F. Supp. 2d 11139
1997Kampfer v. Scullin989 F. Supp. 19436
2009Ryan v. Astrue650 F. Supp. 2d 20729
2007Shannon v. Verizon New York, Inc.519 F. Supp. 2d 30426
2010Webster v. Fischer694 F. Supp. 2d 16324
2008Crysler v. Astrue563 F. Supp. 2d 41824
2005Dorsett-Felicelli, Inc. v. County of Clinton371 F. Supp. 2d 18324
1998Dingwall v. Friedman Fisher Associates, P.C.3 F. Supp. 2d 21523
2010Wright v. Genovese694 F. Supp. 2d 13722
2004Zdziebloski v. Town of East Greenbush, NY336 F. Supp. 2d 19421
1998Connors v. Mills34 F. Supp. 2d 79521
2010Donohue v. Paterson715 F. Supp. 2d 30620
1998Harley-Davidson, Inc. v. Estate of O'Connell13 F. Supp. 2d 27120

Showing the 15 most-cited of 276 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 Lawrence E. Kahn?
President William J. Clinton appointed Lawrence E. Kahn to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in 1996.
Was Lawrence E. Kahn appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Lawrence E. Kahn was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Lawrence E. Kahn's confirmation vote?
Lawrence E. Kahn was confirmed by voice vote on July 16, 1996. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Lawrence E. Kahn on?
Lawrence E. Kahn is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern 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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30 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).