Richard Gaylore Stearns
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1993 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Gaylore Stearns is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1944 · age 82
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1993
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Stanford 1968 · Harvard Law School 1976
- Succeeded
- John Joseph McNaught
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | District of Massachusetts succeeded John Joseph McNaught | 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
| Stanford University | B.A. | 1968 |
| University of Oxford, Balliol College | M.Litt., political philosophy | 1971 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Stearns was assigned 6,916 district-court cases (1977–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 213 days across 6,579 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 425 of Stearns’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 345 were affirmed, 44 reversed or vacated, and 36 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, Stearns authored 305 published opinions for the court (1994–2012). Most cited: In Re Lupron® Marketing & Sales Practices Litigation (71 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | In Re Lupron® Marketing & Sales Practices Litigation | 295 F. Supp. 2d 148 | 71 |
| 2007 | In Re the United States for Orders Pursuant to Title 18 | 509 F. Supp. 2d 76 | 40 |
| 1995 | Whiting v. Boston Edison Co. | 891 F. Supp. 12 | 40 |
| 2002 | McIsaac v. Ford | 193 F. Supp. 2d 382 | 36 |
| 2010 | Farrah Ex Rel. Estate of Santana v. Gondella | 725 F. Supp. 2d 238 | 29 |
| 2003 | In Re Lupron Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation | 245 F. Supp. 2d 280 | 29 |
| 1996 | Gerakaris v. Champagne | 913 F. Supp. 646 | 27 |
| 2001 | Gonzalez v. United States | 150 F. Supp. 2d 236 | 26 |
| 2008 | United States v. Yoeung Eng | 571 F. Supp. 2d 239 | 25 |
| 2001 | Dunker v. Bissonnette | 154 F. Supp. 2d 95 | 24 |
| 1996 | Petsch-Schmid v. Boston Edison Co. | 914 F. Supp. 697 | 24 |
| 2003 | Cape Ann Investors LLC v. Lepone | 296 F. Supp. 2d 4 | 22 |
| 2009 | United States v. Wurie | 612 F. Supp. 2d 104 | 21 |
| 1999 | Haemonetics Corp. v. Dupre | 238 B.R. 224 | 20 |
| 2009 | Moore v. La-Z-Boy, Inc. | 639 F. Supp. 2d 136 | 19 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 305 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 Gaylore Stearns?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Richard Gaylore Stearns to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1993.
- Was Richard Gaylore Stearns appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Richard Gaylore Stearns was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Richard Gaylore Stearns's confirmation vote?
- Richard Gaylore Stearns was confirmed by voice vote on November 20, 1993. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Richard Gaylore Stearns on?
- Richard Gaylore Stearns 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.
32 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).