Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr.
Appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and confirmed by voice vote, Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2022
- Appointed by
- Gerald Ford, 1976
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Princeton 1951 · University of Pittsburgh Law 1956
- Succeeded
- Louis Rosenberg
- Succeeded by
- Arthur J. Schwab
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Western District of Pennsylvania succeeded Louis Rosenberg | Ford (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
| Princeton University | A.B. | 1951 |
| University of Pittsburgh School of Law | LL.B. | 1956 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Cohill was assigned 2,271 district-court cases (1985–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 341 days across 2,264 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 114 of Cohill’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 104 were affirmed, 8 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, Cohill authored 260 published opinions for the court (1976–2010). Most cited: Berry v. Sullivan (242 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Berry v. Sullivan | 738 F. Supp. 942 | 242 |
| 1978 | Owens-El v. Robinson | 442 F. Supp. 1368 | 61 |
| 2000 | Rogan v. Giant Eagle, Inc. | 113 F. Supp. 2d 777 | 54 |
| 2003 | Dr. Gertrude A. Barber Center, Inc. v. Peters Township | 273 F. Supp. 2d 643 | 44 |
| 1981 | Robinson v. Magovern | 521 F. Supp. 842 | 43 |
| 1982 | Pontius v. Children's Hospital | 552 F. Supp. 1352 | 42 |
| 1984 | Chambers Development Co. v. Browning-Ferris Industries | 590 F. Supp. 1528 | 41 |
| 1989 | Tillery v. Owens | 719 F. Supp. 1256 | 40 |
| 1983 | Kann v. Keystone Resources, Inc. | 575 F. Supp. 1084 | 32 |
| 1978 | Owens-El v. Robinson | 457 F. Supp. 984 | 32 |
| 1993 | Favia v. Indiana University of Pennsylvania | 812 F. Supp. 578 | 31 |
| 1979 | United States v. One 1976 Lincoln Mark IV, Serial 6Y89A876578 Michigan License TWP 951 | 462 F. Supp. 1383 | 27 |
| 1981 | Grbac v. Reading Fair Co., Inc. | 521 F. Supp. 1351 | 26 |
| 1983 | United States v. Fischbach and Moore, Inc. | 576 F. Supp. 1384 | 25 |
| 1983 | Inmates of the Allegheny County Jail v. Wecht | 565 F. Supp. 1278 | 25 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 260 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 Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr.?
- President Gerald Ford appointed Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1976.
- Was Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on May 18, 1976. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. on?
- Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (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.
45 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).