Richard Barclay Surrick
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 2000 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Barclay Surrick is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1937 · age 89
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 2000
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Dickinson College 1960 · Dickinson Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) 1965
- Succeeded
- Lowell A. Reed Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Nitza Ileana Quiñones Alejandro
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Eastern District of Pennsylvania succeeded Lowell A. Reed Jr. | 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
| Dickinson College | B.A. | 1960 |
| Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) | J.D. | 1965 |
| University of Virginia School of Law | LL.M. | 1982 |
Before the bench
Professional career before and outside the federal bench, as recorded by the Federal Judicial Center.
| Private practice, Pennsylvania | 1965-1977 |
| Chief, Appellate Division, Office of the Public Defender, Delaware County, Pennsylvania | 1965-1974 |
| Judge, Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County [Pennsylvania] | 1978-2000 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Surrick was assigned 3,848 district-court cases (1985–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 273 days across 3,697 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 150 of Surrick’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 130 were affirmed, 11 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, Surrick authored 37 published opinions for the court (2001–2011). Most cited: Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Spring Mount Area Bavarian Resort, Ltd. (99 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 | Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Spring Mount Area Bavarian Resort, Ltd. | 555 F. Supp. 2d 537 | 99 |
| 2011 | Sullivan v. Warminster Township | 765 F. Supp. 2d 687 | 31 |
| 2006 | Parker v. Google, Inc. | 422 F. Supp. 2d 492 | 28 |
| 2008 | Berg v. Obama | 574 F. Supp. 2d 509 | 18 |
| 2009 | In Re Adolor Corp. Securities Litigation | 616 F. Supp. 2d 551 | 16 |
| 2001 | Balderston v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. | 152 F. Supp. 2d 772 | 16 |
| 2004 | Hospicomm, Inc. v. Fleet Bank, N.A. | 338 F. Supp. 2d 578 | 15 |
| 2006 | Dougherty v. Wells Fargo Home Loans, Inc. | 425 F. Supp. 2d 599 | 14 |
| 2011 | Weems v. KEHE FOOD DISTRIBUTORS, INC. | 804 F. Supp. 2d 339 | 12 |
| 2006 | Keating Fibre International Inc. v. Weyerhaeuser Co. | 416 F. Supp. 2d 1048 | 12 |
| 2002 | SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Geneva Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 287 F. Supp. 2d 576 | 11 |
| 2011 | Perkins v. Beltway Capital, LLC | 773 F. Supp. 2d 553 | 9 |
| 2007 | In Re Automotive Refinishing Paint Antitrust Litigation | 515 F. Supp. 2d 544 | 9 |
| 2004 | SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Apotex Corp. | 383 F. Supp. 2d 686 | 9 |
| 2007 | Bosley v. THE CHUBB INSTITUTE | 516 F. Supp. 2d 479 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 37 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 Barclay Surrick?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Richard Barclay Surrick to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2000.
- Was Richard Barclay Surrick appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Richard Barclay Surrick 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 Barclay Surrick's confirmation vote?
- Richard Barclay Surrick was confirmed by voice vote on May 24, 2000. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Richard Barclay Surrick on?
- Richard Barclay Surrick is 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.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- 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 Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-11-02. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).