Nathaniel M. Gorton
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Nathaniel M. Gorton is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1938 · age 88
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Dartmouth College 1960 · Columbia Law School 1966
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | District of Massachusetts | 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
| Dartmouth College | A.B. | 1960 |
| Columbia Law School | LL.B. | 1966 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gorton was assigned 6,718 district-court cases (1983–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 329 days across 6,316 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 402 of Gorton’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 341 were affirmed, 38 reversed or vacated, and 23 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, Gorton authored 784 published opinions for the court (1993–2011). Most cited: Sigros v. Walt Disney World Co. (64 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Sigros v. Walt Disney World Co. | 129 F. Supp. 2d 56 | 64 |
| 2011 | PC Interiors, Ltd. v. J. Tucci Construction Co. | 794 F. Supp. 2d 274 | 44 |
| 2001 | Kane v. Gage Merchandising Services, Inc. | 138 F. Supp. 2d 212 | 41 |
| 2006 | Walsh v. Town of Lakeville | 431 F. Supp. 2d 134 | 40 |
| 2010 | Speleos v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P. | 755 F. Supp. 2d 304 | 37 |
| 2002 | Orell v. UMass Memorial Medical Center, Inc. | 203 F. Supp. 2d 52 | 33 |
| 2004 | TouchPoint Solutions, Inc. v. Eastman Kodak Co. | 345 F. Supp. 2d 23 | 31 |
| 2002 | LaVallee v. Parrot-Ice Drink Products of America, Inc. | 193 F. Supp. 2d 296 | 30 |
| 1993 | Adams v. Hyannis Harborview, Inc. | 838 F. Supp. 676 | 30 |
| 2011 | ZURICH AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY v. Watts Regulator Co. | 796 F. Supp. 2d 240 | 29 |
| 2008 | Stevens v. Thacker | 550 F. Supp. 2d 161 | 29 |
| 2007 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. Druffner | 517 F. Supp. 2d 502 | 27 |
| 2000 | United States v. Clifford (In Re Clifford) | 255 B.R. 258 | 26 |
| 2002 | Holmes Group, Inc. v. Hamilton Beach/Proctor Silex, Inc. | 249 F. Supp. 2d 12 | 24 |
| 1997 | Egan v. Athol Memorial Hospital | 971 F. Supp. 37 | 24 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 784 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 Nathaniel M. Gorton?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Nathaniel M. Gorton to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1992.
- Was Nathaniel M. Gorton appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Nathaniel M. Gorton 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 Nathaniel M. Gorton's confirmation vote?
- Nathaniel M. Gorton was confirmed by voice vote on September 23, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Nathaniel M. Gorton on?
- Nathaniel M. Gorton is 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: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (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.
33 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).