Richard J. Holwell
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard J. Holwell was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1970. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1946 · age 80
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2003
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Villanova 1967 · Columbia Law School 1970
- Succeeded
- Barrington Daniels Parker Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Valerie Elaine Caproni
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Southern District of New York succeeded Barrington Daniels Parker Jr. | G.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
| Villanova University | B.A. | 1967 |
| Columbia Law School | J.D. | 1970 |
| Cambridge Institute of Criminology | 1971 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Holwell was assigned 1,584 district-court cases (1992–2012). Median time from filing to termination: 254 days across 1,582 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 72 of Holwell’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 65 were affirmed, 5 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, Holwell authored 248 published opinions for the court (2004–2011). Most cited: Ortiz v. Barkley (433 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ortiz v. Barkley | 558 F. Supp. 2d 444 | 433 |
| 2006 | Edwards v. Fischer | 414 F. Supp. 2d 342 | 311 |
| 2008 | Lewis v. Zon | 573 F. Supp. 2d 804 | 271 |
| 2007 | McAllan v. Von Essen | 517 F. Supp. 2d 672 | 131 |
| 2007 | Palacio v. City of New York | 489 F. Supp. 2d 335 | 112 |
| 2011 | Copantitla v. Fiskardo Estiatorio, Inc. | 788 F. Supp. 2d 253 | 108 |
| 2007 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. Haligiannis | 470 F. Supp. 2d 373 | 85 |
| 2006 | Trinidad v. New York City Department of Correction | 423 F. Supp. 2d 151 | 76 |
| 2011 | Glaser v. The9, Ltd. | 772 F. Supp. 2d 573 | 70 |
| 2011 | In Re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Securities Litigation | 765 F. Supp. 2d 512 | 69 |
| 2010 | Cunningham v. Electronic Data Systems Corp. | 754 F. Supp. 2d 638 | 68 |
| 2009 | Thomas v. Astrue | 674 F. Supp. 2d 507 | 67 |
| 2010 | B & M Linen, Corp. v. Kannegiesser, USA, Corp. | 679 F. Supp. 2d 474 | 61 |
| 2007 | Silva v. Peninsula Hotel | 509 F. Supp. 2d 364 | 61 |
| 2007 | Allen v. City of New York | 480 F. Supp. 2d 689 | 56 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 248 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 Richard J. Holwell?
- President George W. Bush appointed Richard J. Holwell to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2003.
- Was Richard J. Holwell appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Richard J. Holwell was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Richard J. Holwell's confirmation vote?
- Richard J. Holwell was confirmed by voice vote on September 17, 2003. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Richard J. Holwell on?
- Richard J. Holwell was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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.
8 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).