Robert Lee Carter
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Lee Carter was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1940. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1917–2012
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Lincoln, Pennsylvania 1937 · Howard Law 1940
- Succeeded
- Thomas Francis Croake
- Succeeded by
- Kenneth Conboy
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Southern District of New York succeeded Thomas Francis Croake | Nixon (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
| Lincoln University, Pennsylvania | A.B. | 1937 |
| Howard University School of Law | LL.B. | 1940 |
| Columbia Law School | LL.M. | 1941 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Carter was assigned 1,274 district-court cases (1980–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 358 days across 1,273 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 25 of Carter’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 18 were affirmed, 2 reversed or vacated, and 5 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, Carter authored 503 published opinions for the court (1972–2009). Most cited: American Electric Power Co. v. Westinghouse Electric Corp. (119 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | American Electric Power Co. v. Westinghouse Electric Corp. | 418 F. Supp. 435 | 119 |
| 1975 | Robertson v. National Basketball Association | 389 F. Supp. 867 | 109 |
| 1979 | Wellman v. Dickinson | 475 F. Supp. 783 | 77 |
| 1975 | Odette v. Shearson, Hammill & Co., Inc. | 394 F. Supp. 946 | 76 |
| 1983 | Somerville v. Major Exploration, Inc. | 576 F. Supp. 902 | 72 |
| 1988 | The Ltd., Inc. v. McCrory Corp. | 683 F. Supp. 387 | 68 |
| 2000 | Woodford v. Apfel | 93 F. Supp. 2d 521 | 67 |
| 1991 | Geler v. National Westminster Bank USA | 770 F. Supp. 210 | 62 |
| 1986 | Kramer, Levin, Nessen, Kamin & Frankel v. Aronoff | 638 F. Supp. 714 | 60 |
| 1982 | Titsch v. Reliance Group, Inc. | 548 F. Supp. 983 | 59 |
| 1992 | Bridges v. Eastman Kodak Co. | 800 F. Supp. 1172 | 58 |
| 1986 | Ronar, Inc. v. Wallace | 649 F. Supp. 310 | 55 |
| 1983 | Buccino v. Continental Assurance Co. | 578 F. Supp. 1518 | 54 |
| 1993 | Three Crown Ltd. Partnership v. Caxton Corp. | 817 F. Supp. 1033 | 52 |
| 1977 | Martin Hodas, East Coast Cinematics, Inc. v. Lindsay | 431 F. Supp. 637 | 52 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 503 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 Robert Lee Carter?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Robert Lee Carter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1972.
- Was Robert Lee Carter appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Lee Carter was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert Lee Carter's confirmation vote?
- Robert Lee Carter was confirmed by voice vote on July 21, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Lee Carter on?
- Robert Lee Carter 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
- Portrait: Unknown author (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.
39 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).