Andrew T. Baxter
How Judge Baxter rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Baxter no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Baxter
Andrew T. Baxter became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York in January 2010 and later served as Chief Magistrate Judge. Before joining the bench, he was an Assistant United States Attorney and Acting United States Attorney for the district. He retired from his regular magistrate appointment in January 2024 and has continued to hear matters on recall.
How Judge Baxter decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Parson, Baxter recommended granting the defendants summary judgment on a prisoner's excessive-force and failure-to-protect claims. He found that the force used to control the plaintiff was reasonable in light of the incident and that the other defendant had not known of a substantial risk of harm.
“it is clear that force was applied, but only in an effort to control plaintiff’s violent conduct and restore order and discipline.”
Procedural preferences
In Green, Baxter recommended denying a motion to dismiss a prisoner's medical-care claim. The plaintiff filed an opposition, and Baxter concluded the claim should not be resolved on the pleadings alone.
“we are not, at this time, inclined to dismiss plaintiff’s action for failure to state a claim based on the pleadings alone.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERS that Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Dkt. No. 31) is GRANTED and Plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED in its entirety”
“ORDERED that Defendant's motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 29) is DENIED”
“ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 43) is GRANTED as to the following claims: ... ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 43) is DENIED in all other respects”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Baxter's docket caseload (2019 filing window, when he was actively assigned: these are genuinely his cases, not reassignments).
- Overwhelmingly Social-Security disability appeals (assigned magistrate of record, deciding the appeal on the merits where the parties consented to his jurisdiction, otherwise issuing a report and recommendation) plus criminal-duty matters and occasional civil diversity (e.g. Schofield v. Cohen, real-property).
- Durations below are filing-to-termination CASE durations, NOT motion-to-ruling latency; per-decision latency for his consent Social Security appeals is in the docket motions and motion stats.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Baxter was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2025.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
A historical record
Judge Baxter no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.