Barrington D. Parker Jr.

How Judge Parker rules, drawn from 33 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Position
circuit
Appointed by
George W. Bush (Republican)
Commissioned
2001-10-16
Education
Yale College (B.A., 1965); Yale Law School (LL.B., 1969)
Signed orders read
33

How Judge Parker decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

In an off-campus student-speech appeal, Parker evaluated the nature of the expression, where and how it occurred, and the school's regulatory interests in light of the reduced authority schools possess away from campus.

“In analyzing this contention, we consider (i) the nature of Leroy’s speech, (ii) where, when, and how he spoke, and (iii) the school’s interests in regulating that speech, in light of the features of off-campus speech identified by the Supreme Court that ‘diminish the strength of the unique educational characteristics that might call for special First Amendment leeway,’”

In a commercial-speech challenge to a real-estate fee law, Parker rejected the premise that only an outright ban implicates the First Amendment. A law that makes publication prohibitively costly can require constitutional scrutiny even when it leaves speech formally available.

“However, a law need not prohibit speech to trigger judicial scrutiny. Laws that merely burden speech may also be subject to review under the First Amendment.”

In the same housing-law appeal, Parker assessed substantial contractual impairment by examining the bargain, the parties' reasonable expectations, and whether the law prevented them from protecting or restoring their rights.

“To determine under step one whether the FARE Act substantially impairs the contractual rights of brokers and landlords who have entered into tenant-pays exclusive listing contracts, we consider ‘the extent to which the law undermines the contractual bargain, interferes with a party's reasonable expectations, and prevents the party from safeguarding or reinstating his rights.’”

Procedural preferences

In an illegal-reentry appeal, Parker treated later reinstatements of an invalid removal order as continuations rather than new orders. They could not supply a valid predicate or shift the prejudice inquiry to later circumstances.

“Because the subsequent reinstatements of the invalid 2000 removal order are not new removal orders, they do not supply a valid basis for the illegal reentry conviction that is the subject of this appeal, nor is it appropriate to look at the circumstances at the time they were entered to assess prejudice.”

Cautions

In a fraud appeal, Parker upheld limits on generalized evidence that lawyers had helped draft ordinary corporate documents. Without full disclosure to counsel, that involvement had little relevance to good faith and presented a substantial risk of confusing the jury.

“The fact that lawyers drafted run-of-the-mill corporate documents provided little to no evidence relevant to Bankman-Fried’s good faith in using them but created a substantial risk of jury confusion.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Ruqiang Yu v. Holder
11-2546-ag · 2012-09-07
Petition for review (petitioner (Ruqiang Yu)) Granted

“Petition for review GRANTED.”

Doe v. Holder
12-3779-ag · 2014-08-19
Petition for review (petitioner (John Doe)) Denied

“Accordingly, the petition for review is DENIED.”

Vasconcelos v. Lynch
15-1308-ag · 2016-11-02
Petition for review (petitioner (Rui Gilberto Enes de Vasconcelos)) Denied

“Because the administrative record supports the agency's finding that Vasconcelos waived his right to a hearing by submitting an ESTA application and entering the United States pursuant to the VWP, the petition is DENIED.”

Mota v. Barr
19-1385 · 2020-08-17
Petition for review (petitioner (Aderito Ferraz Mota)) Denied

“We DENY the petition.”

Ceara v. Deacon
17-569-pr · 2019-02-21
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Rafael Ceara, pro se prisoner)) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the District Court is VACATED and the case is REMANDED to the District Court for further proceedings.”

Robinson v. Concentra Health Services, Inc.
13-3438-cv · 2015-03-24
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Sebrena Robinson)) Denied

“For these reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.”

Orange County Water District v. Texaco Refining & Marketing, Inc.
15-3620-cv · 2017-06-12
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Orange County Water District)) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the district court's grant of summary judgment on res judicata grounds and remand the District's action against BP and Shell to the Southern District of New York for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Catzin v. Thank You & Good Luck Corp.
17-3247 · 2018-08-08
Appeal (appellants (plaintiffs, low-wage laundromat workers)) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, the order of the District Court is VACATED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

ING Bank N.V. v. M/V TEMARA
16-3923(L) · 2018-06-13
Appeal (appellants (ING Bank, assignee of the contract supplier, and CEPSA, the physical supplier)) Granted in part

“For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM IN PART, VACATE IN PART, and REMAND to the District Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Centro de la Comunidad Hispana de Locust Valley v. Town of Oyster Bay
15-2591-cv · 2017-08-22
Appeal (appellant (Town of Oyster Bay)) Denied

“The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”

United States v. Colotti
21-932(L) · 2023-06-21
Appeal (appellants (defendants/petitioners, members of an organized-crime enterprise)) Denied

“Because we are confident that a properly instructed jury would have based the petitioners' 924(c) convictions upon a valid predicate crime of violence, we AFFIRM.”

United States v. Haverkamp
18-3735-cr · 2020-05-04
Appeal (appellant (defendant Paul Haverkamp)) Granted in part

“AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED”

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