Nancy Gertner
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Nancy Gertner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1971. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1946 · age 80
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Barnard College 1967 · Yale Law School 1971
- Succeeded
- A. David Mazzone
- Succeeded by
- Timothy Spafard Hillman
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | District of Massachusetts succeeded A. David Mazzone | 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
| Barnard College | B.A. | 1967 |
| Yale Law School | J.D. | 1971 |
| Yale University | M.A. | 1971 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gertner was assigned 3,657 district-court cases (1982–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 253 days across 3,656 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 91 of Gertner’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 87 were affirmed, 4 reversed or vacated. 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, Gertner authored 288 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Ruffino v. State Street Bank and Trust Co. (81 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Ruffino v. State Street Bank and Trust Co. | 908 F. Supp. 1019 | 81 |
| 2008 | London-Sire Records, Inc. v. Doe 1 | 542 F. Supp. 2d 153 | 74 |
| 1997 | Digital Equipment Corp. v. Altavista Technology, Inc. | 960 F. Supp. 456 | 68 |
| 2005 | United States v. Green | 405 F. Supp. 2d 104 | 49 |
| 2005 | United States v. Pimental | 367 F. Supp. 2d 143 | 45 |
| 1999 | United States v. Hines | 55 F. Supp. 2d 62 | 44 |
| 2007 | Yong Tang v. Chertoff | 493 F. Supp. 2d 148 | 39 |
| 1995 | Piantes v. Pepperidge Farm, Inc. | 875 F. Supp. 929 | 32 |
| 2002 | Centola v. Potter | 183 F. Supp. 2d 403 | 31 |
| 1998 | Wallace v. Reno | 24 F. Supp. 2d 104 | 31 |
| 1995 | United States v. Brennick | 908 F. Supp. 1004 | 31 |
| 2003 | Monahan v. Winn | 276 F. Supp. 2d 196 | 30 |
| 1998 | Argentieri v. Fisher Landscapes, Inc. | 15 F. Supp. 2d 55 | 28 |
| 1998 | Rosenberg v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. | 995 F. Supp. 190 | 28 |
| 2007 | Fitzgerald v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc. | 491 F. Supp. 2d 177 | 26 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 288 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 Nancy Gertner?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Nancy Gertner to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1994.
- Was Nancy Gertner appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Nancy Gertner was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Nancy Gertner's confirmation vote?
- Nancy Gertner was confirmed by voice vote on February 10, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Nancy Gertner on?
- Nancy Gertner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service (CC BY 2.0), 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.
17 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).