Robert S. Gawthrop III
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert S. Gawthrop III was 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 1970. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1942–1999
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1987
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Amherst College 1964 · Dickinson Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) 1970
- Succeeded
- John William Ditter Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Berle M. Schiller
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Eastern District of Pennsylvania succeeded John William Ditter Jr. | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gawthrop was assigned 2,097 district-court cases (1984–1999). Median time from filing to termination: 216 days across 2,097 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.
In our data, Gawthrop authored 57 published opinions for the court (1988–1998). Most cited: Doe v. Kohn Nast & Graf, P.C. (72 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Doe v. Kohn Nast & Graf, P.C. | 862 F. Supp. 1310 | 72 |
| 1994 | Doe v. William Shapiro, Esquire, P.C. | 852 F. Supp. 1246 | 43 |
| 1988 | Bowers v. NETI Technologies, Inc. | 690 F. Supp. 349 | 36 |
| 1994 | Doe v. Kohn Nast & Graf, P.C. | 866 F. Supp. 190 | 30 |
| 1988 | De Botton v. Marple Township | 689 F. Supp. 477 | 28 |
| 1992 | Margolies v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. | 810 F. Supp. 637 | 23 |
| 1990 | University Medical Center v. Sullivan | 122 B.R. 919 | 21 |
| 1988 | Liakakos v. Cigna Corp. | 704 F. Supp. 583 | 17 |
| 1995 | Matter of Foxcroft Square Co. | 184 B.R. 671 | 16 |
| 1993 | United States v. McDade | 827 F. Supp. 1153 | 16 |
| 1995 | Total Containment, Inc. v. Environ Products, Inc. | 921 F. Supp. 1355 | 15 |
| 1992 | Albert Einstein Medical Center v. Sullivan | 830 F. Supp. 846 | 13 |
| 1997 | Paolella v. Browning-Ferris, Inc. | 973 F. Supp. 508 | 12 |
| 1991 | In Re Rheam of Indiana, Inc. | 133 B.R. 325 | 12 |
| 1991 | University Medical Center v. Sullivan | 125 B.R. 121 | 12 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 57 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 S. Gawthrop III?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert S. Gawthrop III to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1987.
- Was Robert S. Gawthrop III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert S. Gawthrop III was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert S. Gawthrop III's confirmation vote?
- Robert S. Gawthrop III was confirmed by voice vote on December 8, 1987. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert S. Gawthrop III on?
- Robert S. Gawthrop III was 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
- 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.
11 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).