Loretta A. Preska
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Loretta A. Preska is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned a law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1973. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- College of St. Rose 1970 · Fordham Law 1973
- Succeeded
- Robert Joseph Ward
- Succeeded by
- Mary Kay Vyskocil
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Southern District of New York succeeded Robert Joseph Ward | 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
| College of St. Rose | B.A. | 1970 |
| Fordham University School of Law | J.D. | 1973 |
| New York University School of Law | LL.M. | 1978 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Preska was assigned 12,564 district-court cases (1968–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 112 days across 12,253 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 768 of Preska’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 496 were affirmed, 218 reversed or vacated, and 54 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, Preska authored 142 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: Brandon v. City of New York (362 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Brandon v. City of New York | 705 F. Supp. 2d 261 | 362 |
| 1997 | American Libraries Ass'n v. Pataki | 969 F. Supp. 160 | 107 |
| 2009 | IMG FRAGRANCE BRANDS, LLC v. Houbigant, Inc. | 679 F. Supp. 2d 395 | 75 |
| 2011 | In Re Fairfield Sentry Ltd. Litigation | 458 B.R. 665 | 72 |
| 2011 | In Re Digital Music Antitrust Litigation | 812 F. Supp. 2d 390 | 64 |
| 2000 | In Re Ultrafem Inc. Securities Litigation | 91 F. Supp. 2d 678 | 64 |
| 2010 | Kaur v. New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. | 688 F. Supp. 2d 317 | 53 |
| 1998 | Jewell v. NYP Holdings, Inc. | 23 F. Supp. 2d 348 | 52 |
| 1996 | Cerrato v. Durham | 941 F. Supp. 388 | 50 |
| 1994 | Moscowitz v. Brown | 850 F. Supp. 1185 | 46 |
| 2006 | Baker v. Urban Outfitters, Inc. | 431 F. Supp. 2d 351 | 43 |
| 2009 | Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | 649 F. Supp. 2d 262 | 42 |
| 1993 | Henschke v. New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center | 821 F. Supp. 166 | 42 |
| 2003 | Baker v. Urban Outfitters, Inc. | 254 F. Supp. 2d 346 | 40 |
| 1995 | Sheerbonnet, Ltd. v. American Express Bank, Ltd. | 951 F. Supp. 403 | 39 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 142 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 Loretta A. Preska?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Loretta A. Preska to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1992.
- Was Loretta A. Preska appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Loretta A. Preska 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 Loretta A. Preska's confirmation vote?
- Loretta A. Preska was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Loretta A. Preska on?
- Loretta A. Preska 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
- 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.
34 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).