Who appointed Lawrence M. McKenna?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Lawrence M. McKenna to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1990.

Was Lawrence M. McKenna appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

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

What was Lawrence M. McKenna's confirmation vote?

Lawrence M. McKenna was confirmed by voice vote on April 27, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Southern District of New York / Appointed 1990 / Served to 2023

Lawrence M. McKenna

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

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, Lawrence M. McKenna was 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 1959. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1933–2023
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1990
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Fordham College 1956 · Columbia Law School 1959
Succeeded: William Curtis Conner
Succeeded by: P. Kevin Castel

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1990	Southern District of New York succeeded William Curtis Conner	G.H.W. Bush (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.	1956
Columbia Law School	LL.B.	1959

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, McKenna was assigned 3,759 district-court cases (1982–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 403 days across 3,757 closed cases.

Contract30%

Personal-injury torts13%

Civil rights10%

Intellectual property9%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Labor & ERISA9%

Other21%

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 51 of McKenna’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 42 were affirmed, 6 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, McKenna authored 94 published opinions for the court (1990–2011). Most cited: Gelb v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (97 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
1993	Gelb v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.	813 F. Supp. 1022	97
1997	Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. Hasbro, Inc.	958 F. Supp. 895	69
2010	Coach, Inc. v. Kmart Corporations	756 F. Supp. 2d 421	67
2011	Park B. Smith, Inc. v. Chf Industries Inc.	811 F. Supp. 2d 766	62
2009	Adelphia Recovery Trust v. Bank of America, N.A.	624 F. Supp. 2d 292	53
1995	United States v. Starzecpyzel	880 F. Supp. 1027	47
2007	Drummond v. Castro	522 F. Supp. 2d 667	39
2009	AIG FINANCIAL PRODUCTS CORP. v. Public Utility District No. 1	675 F. Supp. 2d 354	34
2008	Adelphia Recovery Trust v. Bank of America, N.A.	390 B.R. 80	32
1992	Girl Scouts of the United States v. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.	808 F. Supp. 1112	30
2007	Mazzaro De Abreu v. Bank of America Corp.	525 F. Supp. 2d 381	27
1992	In Re General Development Corp. Bond Litigation	800 F. Supp. 1128	24
1994	MTV Networks, a Division of Viacom International, Inc. v. Curry	867 F. Supp. 202	23
1993	Reiter v. Zimmer, Inc.	830 F. Supp. 199	23
1994	International Audiotext Network, Inc. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.	893 F. Supp. 1207	22

Showing the 15 most-cited of 94 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 M. McKenna?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Lawrence M. McKenna to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1990.
Was Lawrence M. McKenna appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Lawrence M. McKenna was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Lawrence M. McKenna's confirmation vote?: Lawrence M. McKenna was confirmed by voice vote on April 27, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Lawrence M. McKenna on?: Lawrence M. McKenna 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

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

32 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).