Who appointed Norma Levy Shapiro?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Norma Levy Shapiro to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1978.

Was Norma Levy Shapiro appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Norma Levy Shapiro was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Norma Levy Shapiro's confirmation vote?

Norma Levy Shapiro was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1978. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania / Appointed 1978 / Served to 2016

Norma Levy Shapiro

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and confirmed by voice vote, Norma Levy Shapiro was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She earned a law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) in 1951. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1928–2016
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1978
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Michigan 1948 · University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) 1951
Succeeded: James Henry Gorbey
Succeeded by: Cynthia M. Rufe

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1978	Eastern District of Pennsylvania succeeded James Henry Gorbey	Carter (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

University of Michigan	B.A.	1948
University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School)	J.D.	1951

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Shapiro was assigned 5,918 district-court cases (1986–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 214 days across 5,917 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas36%

Personal-injury torts19%

Contract12%

Civil rights12%

Labor & ERISA6%

Other federal statutes5%

Other10%

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 132 of Shapiro’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 108 were affirmed, 15 reversed or vacated, and 9 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, Shapiro authored 186 published opinions for the court (1979–2009). Most cited: Palmer v. Apfel (222 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
1998	Palmer v. Apfel	995 F. Supp. 549	222
1983	Aetna Life & Casualty Co. v. McCabe	556 F. Supp. 1342	44
1987	Engstrom v. John Nuveen & Co., Inc.	668 F. Supp. 953	42
1994	In Re Marks	174 B.R. 37	36
1984	Klein v. Council of Chemical Associations	587 F. Supp. 213	35
1983	Watkins v. Harris	566 F. Supp. 493	35
1983	Micheel v. Haralson	586 F. Supp. 169	34
1998	Casey v. Kasal	223 B.R. 879	33
1987	Gunsalus v. Celotex Corp.	674 F. Supp. 1149	33
1998	Holt Cargo Systems, Inc. v. Delaware River Port Authority	20 F. Supp. 2d 803	32
1984	Pacific Indemnity Co. v. Linn	590 F. Supp. 643	31
1983	Denenberg v. Am. Family Corp. of Columbus, Ga.	566 F. Supp. 1242	31
1981	Krajci v. Provident Consumer Discount Co.	525 F. Supp. 145	30
1986	United States v. Premises Known as 2639 Meetinghouse	633 F. Supp. 979	28
1982	Balestrieri v. Bell Asbestos Mines, Ltd.	544 F. Supp. 528	28

Showing the 15 most-cited of 186 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 Norma Levy Shapiro?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Norma Levy Shapiro to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1978.
Was Norma Levy Shapiro appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Norma Levy Shapiro was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Norma Levy Shapiro's confirmation vote?: Norma Levy Shapiro was confirmed by voice vote on August 11, 1978. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Norma Levy Shapiro on?: Norma Levy Shapiro was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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37 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).