Sarah A. L. Merriam
How Judge Merriam rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Merriam
Sarah Ann Leilani Merriam is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Merriam received a commission on September 23, 2022. Judge Merriam previously served on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, commissioned there on October 8, 2021.
Judge Merriam's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Merriam's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
How Judge Merriam decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Unkechaug Indian Nation v. Seggos, she parsed the text and punctuation of Article VI in deciding whether a colonial order qualified as federal law.
“In interpreting Article VI of the United States Constitution, we begin with the text. ... The placement of the commas around ‘or which shall be made’ makes very clear that the phrase ‘under the Authority of the United States’ modifies ‘all Treaties made.’”
Writing for the en banc court in Maiorana, she overruled prior circuit precedent allowing unannounced standard supervised-release conditions and vacated conditions added only in the written judgment.
“Proceeding en banc, we now overrule Truscello. We VACATE the portion of the defendant’s sentence imposing the thirteen discretionary conditions of supervised release.”
In United States v. McAdam, she vacated two discretionary supervised-release conditions because the district court did not make an individualized assessment and explain its reasons on the record.
“Because we conclude that the District Court erred by imposing Conditions 14 and 15 without making the required individualized assessment and articulating on the record its reasons for imposing the conditions, we need not decide whether the District Court failed to orally pronounce the conditions.”
Procedural preferences
In Unkechaug Indian Nation v. Seggos, she treated the conclusion that the Andros Order was not federal law as dispositive and left other arguments unresolved.
“Because our conclusion that the Andros Order is not federal law is dispositive of this appeal, we need not address the parties’ remaining arguments.”
In Jok v. City of Burlington, she dismissed an officer's interlocutory qualified-immunity appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction because he continued to dispute the plaintiff's factual account and presented no pure question of law.
“Corrow does not accept, even for the limited purposes of pursuing this appeal, Jok's version of the facts, or any set of stipulated facts.”
Cautions
In Unkechaug Indian Nation v. Seggos, she explained that an argument addressed only in a footnote is ordinarily forfeited.
“We ordinarily deem an argument to be forfeited where it has not been sufficiently argued in the briefs, such as when it is only addressed in a footnote.”
In Nambiar v. Central Orthopedic Group, she found the district judge’s failure to review a recommendation de novo harmless because the appellate court reviewed summary judgment de novo.
“We review a grant of summary judgment de novo; therefore, the District Judge's failure to conduct the required de novo review of the R&R is harmless.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, for the reasons stated, the District Court appropriately entered summary judgment in defendants' favor, and we AFFIRM the judgment of the District Court.”
“Proceeding en banc, we now overrule Truscello. We VACATE the portion of the defendant’s sentence imposing the thirteen discretionary conditions of supervised release.”
“For the reasons stated, we VACATE the District Court's judgment of dismissal and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“No such unlawful conduct is required by the contracts NexPoint seeks to rescind, and therefore we AFFIRM the judgment of the District Court.”
“We therefore VACATE the judgment and REMAND for further proceedings.”
“For the reasons set forth herein, this appeal is DISMISSED for lack of appellate jurisdiction.”
“The judgment of the District Court is therefore AFFIRMED.”
“In light of Slattery, we vacate the dismissal of Plaintiffs' expressive-association claim, the grant of summary-judgment to Plaintiffs as to the Act's Notice Provision, and the permanent injunction. We remand for the District Court to determine whether any Plaintiff has plausibly alleged an expressive-association claim under Slattery. We affirm the dismissal of Plaintiffs' free speech and free exercise claims.”
“Accordingly, we VACATE the District Court's grant of JNOV for Antonik and NYU on Edelman's retaliation claims, and REMAND with instructions to reinstate the jury's verdict on these claims. We further VACATE the District Court's decision granting JMOL in favor of Kaplan on the retaliation claim, and remand for a new trial on that claim. We AFFIRM the judgment as to the remaining claims.”
“We conclude that by their actions, including by affirmatively seeking a resolution of their dispute in the District Court, the UBS Defendants waived their right to compel arbitration. We therefore AFFIRM the District Court's denial of the UBS Defendants' motion to compel arbitration on the alternative ground of waiver.”
“Accordingly, we AFFIRM IN PART, and VACATE and REMAND IN PART, with instructions to amend the written judgment to conform with the oral pronouncement of Special Conditions 2, 4, and 7.”
“Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment entered by the District Court.”
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