Sylvia H. Rambo
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Sylvia H. Rambo was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. She earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) in 1962. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1936–2024
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Dickinson College 1958 · Dickinson Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law) 1962
- Succeeded by
- Christopher C. Conner
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Middle District of Pennsylvania | Carter (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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Rambo was assigned 6,967 district-court cases (1979–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 188 days across 6,952 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 340 of Rambo’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 283 were affirmed, 38 reversed or vacated, and 19 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, Rambo authored 226 published opinions for the court (1979–2011). Most cited: Mitchell v. Dodrill (302 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 | Mitchell v. Dodrill | 696 F. Supp. 2d 454 | 302 |
| 2008 | Atwell v. Lavan | 557 F. Supp. 2d 532 | 62 |
| 1988 | Bowersox v. P.H. Glatfelter Co. | 677 F. Supp. 307 | 55 |
| 1994 | Von Kahl v. Brennan | 855 F. Supp. 1413 | 48 |
| 1985 | City of Harrisburg v. Bradford Trust Co. | 621 F. Supp. 463 | 45 |
| 1985 | Harley Hotels, Inc. v. Rain's International, Ltd. | 57 B.R. 773 | 38 |
| 2010 | Brautigam v. Fraley | 684 F. Supp. 2d 589 | 36 |
| 1986 | Corwin Jeep Sales & Service, Inc. v. American Motors Sales Corp. | 670 F. Supp. 591 | 36 |
| 1994 | United States v. Bradley | 880 F. Supp. 271 | 34 |
| 2005 | High River Ltd. Partnership v. Mylan Laboratories, Inc. | 353 F. Supp. 2d 487 | 30 |
| 1983 | Rettinger v. American Can Co. | 574 F. Supp. 306 | 30 |
| 1985 | Truhe v. Rupell | 641 F. Supp. 57 | 29 |
| 2000 | Bristow v. Clevenger | 80 F. Supp. 2d 421 | 27 |
| 1991 | Janicsko v. Pellman | 774 F. Supp. 331 | 27 |
| 2010 | Caldwell v. Luzerne County Corrections Facility Management Employees | 732 F. Supp. 2d 458 | 26 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 226 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 Sylvia H. Rambo?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Sylvia H. Rambo to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 1979.
- Was Sylvia H. Rambo appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Sylvia H. Rambo was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Sylvia H. Rambo's confirmation vote?
- Sylvia H. Rambo was confirmed by voice vote on July 23, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Sylvia H. Rambo on?
- Sylvia H. Rambo was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
45 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).