William M. Skretny
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and confirmed by voice vote, William M. Skretny is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. He earned a law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1969. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1945 · age 81
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1990
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Canisius College 1966 · Howard Law 1969
- Succeeded
- John Thomas Curtin
- Succeeded by
- John Leonard Sinatra Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Western District of New York succeeded John Thomas Curtin | G.H.W. Bush (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
| Canisius College | A.B. | 1966 |
| Howard University School of Law | J.D. | 1969 |
| Northwestern University School of Law (now Pritzker School of Law) | LL.M. | 1972 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Skretny was assigned 7,191 district-court cases (1980–2024). Median time from filing to termination: 252 days across 7,153 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 273 of Skretny’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 203 were affirmed, 37 reversed or vacated, and 33 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, Skretny authored 121 published opinions for the court (1990–2011). Most cited: Smith v. Department of Justice (99 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Smith v. Department of Justice | 218 F. Supp. 2d 357 | 99 |
| 2003 | New York v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. | 263 F. Supp. 2d 650 | 31 |
| 1995 | Carter v. Carriero | 905 F. Supp. 99 | 30 |
| 1993 | Posey v. United States Department of the Treasury-Internal Revenue Service | 156 B.R. 910 | 28 |
| 2011 | Turley v. ISG Lackawanna, Inc. | 803 F. Supp. 2d 217 | 23 |
| 1992 | Spence v. Maryland Casualty Co. | 803 F. Supp. 649 | 22 |
| 2003 | United States v. Goba | 240 F. Supp. 2d 242 | 19 |
| 1994 | Jones v. City of Buffalo | 867 F. Supp. 1155 | 18 |
| 2011 | Lewis v. FMC Corp. | 786 F. Supp. 2d 690 | 17 |
| 1992 | Renda v. Adam Meldrum & Anderson Co. | 806 F. Supp. 1071 | 17 |
| 1992 | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp. v. HFH USA Corp. | 805 F. Supp. 133 | 16 |
| 1999 | United States v. Longo | 70 F. Supp. 2d 225 | 15 |
| 1994 | Myree v. Local 41, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers | 847 F. Supp. 1059 | 14 |
| 1992 | Melnyk v. Adria Laboratories | 799 F. Supp. 301 | 14 |
| 1991 | Donahue v. NFS, INC. | 781 F. Supp. 188 | 14 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 121 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 William M. Skretny?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed William M. Skretny to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in 1990.
- Was William M. Skretny appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William M. Skretny was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William M. Skretny's confirmation vote?
- William M. Skretny was confirmed by voice vote on August 3, 1990. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William M. Skretny on?
- William M. Skretny is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western 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.
36 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).