Who appointed Sandra L. Townes?

President George W. Bush appointed Sandra L. Townes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2004.

Was Sandra L. Townes appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Sandra L. Townes was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Sandra L. Townes's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Sandra L. Townes 95–0 on June 3, 2004.

Eastern District of New York / Appointed 2004 / Served to 2018

Sandra L. Townes

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004 and confirmed by the Senate 95–0, Sandra L. Townes was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She earned a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1944–2018
Appointed by: George W. Bush, 2004
Confirmed: 95–0
Education: Johnson C. Smith 1966 · Syracuse College of Law 1976
Succeeded: Sterling Johnson Jr.
Succeeded by: Ann Marie Donnelly

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
2004	Eastern District of New York succeeded Sterling Johnson Jr.	G.W. Bush (R)	95–0

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 95–0 on June 3, 2004 · 108th Congress, Roll Call 108. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 95

44 D, 50 R, 1 I

Did not vote · 5

4 D, 1 R

Education

Johnson C. Smith University	B.A.	1966
Syracuse University College of Law	J.D.	1976

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Townes was assigned 2,167 district-court cases (1991–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 267 days across 2,165 closed cases.

Civil rights24%

Labor & ERISA15%

Other federal statutes14%

Personal-injury torts11%

Contract11%

Prisoner & habeas7%

Other18%

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 135 of Townes’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 109 were affirmed, 14 reversed or vacated, and 12 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, Townes authored 34 published opinions for the court (2005–2011). Most cited: McKnight v. Middleton (108 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
2010	McKnight v. Middleton	699 F. Supp. 2d 507	108
2006	Muhammad v. New York City Transit Authority	450 F. Supp. 2d 198	54
2006	Vitolo v. Mentor H/S, Inc.	426 F. Supp. 2d 28	24
2010	Rupolo v. Oshkosh Truck Corp.	749 F. Supp. 2d 31	23
2010	Follman v. World Financial Network National Bank	721 F. Supp. 2d 158	17
2010	St. Louis v. New York City Health & Hospital Corp.	682 F. Supp. 2d 216	16
2009	McClean v. Astrue	650 F. Supp. 2d 223	16
2010	Evans v. Solomon	681 F. Supp. 2d 233	15
2006	Kingvision Pay-Per-View Ltd. v. Lalaleo	429 F. Supp. 2d 506	15
2006	Kingvision Pay-Per-View Ltd. v. Autar	426 F. Supp. 2d 59	13
2006	Conocophillips v. 261 East Merrick Road Corp.	428 F. Supp. 2d 111	11
2007	Maloney v. County of Nassau	623 F. Supp. 2d 277	9
2007	Katzenberg v. First Fortis Life Insurance	500 F. Supp. 2d 177	9
2005	New York v. Hickey's Carting, Inc.	380 F. Supp. 2d 108	9
2005	CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. IVAX Corp.	375 F. Supp. 2d 120	8

Showing the 15 most-cited of 34 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 Sandra L. Townes?: President George W. Bush appointed Sandra L. Townes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2004.
Was Sandra L. Townes appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Sandra L. Townes was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Sandra L. Townes's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Sandra L. Townes 95–0 on June 3, 2004.
Which court was Sandra L. Townes on?: Sandra L. Townes was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

13 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).