Nicholas Garaufis
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Nicholas Garaufis is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1948 · age 78
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 2000
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Columbia College 1969 · Columbia Law School 1974
- Succeeded
- Charles Proctor Sifton
- Succeeded by
- LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Eastern District of New York succeeded Charles Proctor Sifton | 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
| Columbia College | B.A. | 1969 |
| Columbia Law School | J.D. | 1974 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Garaufis was assigned 7,509 district-court cases (1991–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 235 days across 5,364 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 211 of Garaufis’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 176 were affirmed, 18 reversed or vacated, and 17 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, Garaufis authored 132 published opinions for the court (2000–2011). Most cited: Hilsdorf v. Commissioner of Social Security (140 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Hilsdorf v. Commissioner of Social Security | 724 F. Supp. 2d 330 | 140 |
| 2007 | Covey v. Simonton | 481 F. Supp. 2d 224 | 132 |
| 2004 | Sutherland v. Barnhart | 322 F. Supp. 2d 282 | 92 |
| 2010 | St. John's University, New York v. Bolton | 757 F. Supp. 2d 144 | 75 |
| 2007 | Dewees v. Legal Servicing, LLC | 506 F. Supp. 2d 128 | 37 |
| 2010 | M & T Mortgage Corp. v. White | 736 F. Supp. 2d 538 | 32 |
| 2001 | European Community v. RJR Nabisco, Inc. | 150 F. Supp. 2d 456 | 32 |
| 2001 | Bass v. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. | 129 F. Supp. 2d 491 | 32 |
| 2002 | Manliguez v. Joseph | 226 F. Supp. 2d 377 | 31 |
| 2010 | Baez v. Jetblue Airways | 745 F. Supp. 2d 214 | 29 |
| 2004 | Baptichon v. Nevada State Bank | 304 F. Supp. 2d 451 | 27 |
| 2005 | Pimentel v. Gonzales | 367 F. Supp. 2d 365 | 23 |
| 2009 | United States v. Vulcan Soc. Inc. | 637 F. Supp. 2d 77 | 20 |
| 2008 | In Re the United States for an Order Authorizing the Use of Two Pen Register & Trap & Trace Devices | 632 F. Supp. 2d 202 | 20 |
| 2007 | Kaur v. Royal Arcadia Palace, Inc. | 643 F. Supp. 2d 276 | 20 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 132 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 Nicholas Garaufis?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Nicholas Garaufis to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2000.
- Was Nicholas Garaufis appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Nicholas Garaufis was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Nicholas Garaufis's confirmation vote?
- Nicholas Garaufis was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Nicholas Garaufis on?
- Nicholas Garaufis is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Government (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.
26 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).