David J. Porter

How Judge Porter rules, drawn from 31 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Position
circuit
Appointed by
Donald J. Trump (Republican)
Commissioned
2018-10-15
Education
Grove City College (B.A., 1988); George Mason University School of Law, now the Antonin Scalia Law School (J.D., 1992; articles editor, George Mason Law Review)
Signed orders read
31

How Judge Porter decides

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

What persuades

Treats Congress's selection of a foreign-affairs policy and the President's designation of covered arms as a permissible division between legislative policy and executive detail.

“Through the AECA, Congress articulated a general policy—reducing the international arms trade in order to lessen regional conflict— and authorized the President to list the arms that should be subject to export restrictions”

Cautions

Does not allow a products-liability malfunction theory to substitute for available testing when the product remains available and the circumstantial evidence leaves causation speculative.

“Because the allegedly defective product was available for inspection, Coates cannot avail herself of Section 3’s more generous evidentiary standard.”

Signed rulings

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

United States v. Milchin
24-1484 · 2025-02-05
Appeal (appellant (defendant Michael Milchin)) Denied

“For these reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.”

Medical Associates of Erie v. Zaycosky
22-1402 · 2023-08-09
Appeal (appellant (defendant Michael B. Zaycosky)) Granted

“We will vacate the fee award.”

Mohr v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
23-1924 · 2024-02-21
Appeal (appellant (defendant Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania)) Denied

“For these reasons, we will affirm.”

Bah v. United States
22-3162 · 2024-01-18
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Abdoulai Bah)) Denied

“We will affirm the District Court’s order dismissing Bah’s action with prejudice.”

United States v. Rodriguez
20-3295 · 2022-07-12
Appeal (appellant (defendant Gimy Jose Rodriguez)) Denied

“We will affirm the District Court’s judgment imposing Rodriguez’s sentence.”

United States v. Hurtt
23-1961 · 2024-06-24
Appeal (appellant (defendant Sahbree Hurtt)) Denied

“We will therefore affirm the District Court’s judgment.”

Moyer v. Patenaude & Felix, A.P.C.
20-1937 · 2021-03-16
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Candace Moyer)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the judgment of the District Court.”

Kyriakopoulos v. Maigetter
23-2276 · 2024-11-20
Appeal (appellant (defendant Robert Z. Maigetter)) Granted

“For these reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s order compelling production of the twelve Maigetter-Eastburn emails and remand for further proceedings.”

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 v. Port Authority of Allegheny County
21-1256 · 2022-06-29
Appeal (appellant (defendant Port Authority of Allegheny County)) Denied

“We will affirm the District Court’s order.”

Hernandez v. MicroBilt Corp.
22-3135 · 2023-12-05
Appeal (appellant (defendant MicroBilt Corporation)) Denied

“The District Court correctly denied MicroBilt’s motion to compel because Hernandez fully complied with MicroBilt’s arbitration provision.”

United States v. Melvin
20-1158 · 2020-10-16
Appeal (appellant (defendant Cory Melvin)) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s order denying Melvin’s motion and remand for further proceedings.”

United States v. Aguirre-Miron
19-3134 · 2021-02-23
Appeal (appellant (defendant Lorenzo Aguirre-Miron)) Granted

“We will therefore vacate Aguirre-Miron’s sentence and remand for resentencing.”

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