Thomas Poole Griesa
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Thomas Poole Griesa was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1930–2017
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard 1952 · Stanford Law School 1958
- Succeeded by
- Laura Taylor Swain
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Southern District of New York | 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
| Harvard University | A.B. | 1952 |
| Stanford Law School | LL.B. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Griesa was assigned 8,480 district-court cases (1952–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 1 days across 8,477 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 127 of Griesa’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 108 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 8 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, Griesa authored 132 published opinions for the court (1973–2010). Most cited: In Re the Requested Extradition of Sindona (49 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | In Re the Requested Extradition of Sindona | 450 F. Supp. 672 | 49 |
| 1974 | Socialist Workers Party v. Attorney General of US | 375 F. Supp. 318 | 49 |
| 2008 | In Re AstraZeneca Securities Litigation | 559 F. Supp. 2d 453 | 44 |
| 1975 | Chemical Bank v. World Hockey Association | 403 F. Supp. 1374 | 42 |
| 1979 | Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Inc. v. Pussycat Cinema, Ltd. | 467 F. Supp. 366 | 40 |
| 1973 | Bilick v. Dudley | 356 F. Supp. 945 | 33 |
| 1986 | Socialist Workers Party v. Attorney General of United States | 642 F. Supp. 1357 | 32 |
| 1978 | Bache Halsey Stuart Inc. v. Namm | 446 F. Supp. 692 | 32 |
| 1985 | Amalgamated Insurance Fund v. William B. Kessler, Inc. | 55 B.R. 735 | 27 |
| 1974 | National Auto Brokers Corp. v. General Motors Corp. | 376 F. Supp. 620 | 26 |
| 1992 | O & G CARRIERS, INC. v. Smith | 799 F. Supp. 1528 | 21 |
| 1992 | Katz v. Financial Clearing & Services Corp. | 794 F. Supp. 88 | 20 |
| 1988 | Church v. Gruntal & Co., Inc. | 698 F. Supp. 465 | 20 |
| 2010 | Meridian Horizon Fund, LP v. Tremont Group Holdings, Inc. | 747 F. Supp. 2d 406 | 19 |
| 2010 | Tyco International, Ltd. v. Kozlowski | 756 F. Supp. 2d 553 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 132 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 Thomas Poole Griesa?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Thomas Poole Griesa to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1972.
- Was Thomas Poole Griesa appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Thomas Poole Griesa was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Thomas Poole Griesa's confirmation vote?
- Thomas Poole Griesa was confirmed by voice vote on June 28, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Thomas Poole Griesa on?
- Thomas Poole Griesa 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
- 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 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).