Peter Collins Dorsey
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and confirmed by voice vote, Peter Collins Dorsey was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1959. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–2012
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1983
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale 1953 · Harvard Law School 1959
- Succeeded
- T. Emmet Clarie
- Succeeded by
- Stefan R. Underhill
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | District of Connecticut succeeded T. Emmet Clarie | Reagan (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
| Yale University | B.A. | 1953 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1959 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Dorsey was assigned 4,587 district-court cases (1975–2011). Median time from filing to termination: 302 days across 4,578 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 63 of Dorsey’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 58 were affirmed, 3 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, Dorsey authored 356 published opinions for the court (1983–2011). Most cited: United States v. Yale New Haven Hospital (167 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | United States v. Yale New Haven Hospital | 727 F. Supp. 784 | 167 |
| 2004 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. Global Telecom Services L.L.C. | 325 F. Supp. 2d 94 | 52 |
| 1997 | Hernandez v. City of Hartford | 959 F. Supp. 125 | 42 |
| 1988 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. Electronics Warehouse, Inc. | 689 F. Supp. 53 | 42 |
| 1998 | Huff v. West Haven Board of Education | 10 F. Supp. 2d 117 | 41 |
| 2006 | United States Ex Rel. Smith v. Yale University | 415 F. Supp. 2d 58 | 39 |
| 1988 | Dirienzo v. United States | 690 F. Supp. 1149 | 34 |
| 1984 | General Accident Group v. Gagliardi | 593 F. Supp. 1080 | 34 |
| 1984 | Guglielmoni v. Alexander | 583 F. Supp. 821 | 33 |
| 2007 | Malin v. XL Capital Ltd. | 499 F. Supp. 2d 117 | 32 |
| 2007 | Gervais v. Riddle & Associates, P.C. | 479 F. Supp. 2d 270 | 32 |
| 1993 | Edgecomb v. Housing Authority of Town of Vernon | 824 F. Supp. 312 | 32 |
| 1989 | McCauley Enterprises, Inc. v. New Hampshire Insurance | 716 F. Supp. 718 | 32 |
| 1998 | Baskin v. United States | 998 F. Supp. 188 | 30 |
| 1988 | Nicholson v. United Technologies Corp. | 697 F. Supp. 598 | 29 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 356 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 Peter Collins Dorsey?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Peter Collins Dorsey to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in 1983.
- Was Peter Collins Dorsey appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Peter Collins Dorsey was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Peter Collins Dorsey's confirmation vote?
- Peter Collins Dorsey was confirmed by voice vote on July 18, 1983. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Peter Collins Dorsey on?
- Peter Collins Dorsey was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
28 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).