Frederick James Scullin, Jr.
How Judge Scullin rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Scullin
Frederick James Scullin, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Scullin received a commission on February 10, 1992. Judge Scullin assumed senior status on March 13, 2006.
Judge Scullin's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Scullin's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).
- General Order 14: Civil RICO Statement ↗
- General Order 15: Uniform Procedure for Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Cases ↗
- General Order 18: Social Security Docket Assignment, Management, and Filing Requirements ↗
- General Order 22: Administrative Procedures for Electronic Case Filing ↗
- General Order 25: Civil Case Assignment and Filing Order ↗
- General Order 47: Mandatory Mediation Program ↗
- General Order 52: Letters Regarding Sentencings ↗
- General Order 62: Procedures for Filing, Service and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
How Judge Scullin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the reviewed excessive-force complaint, the court left the claim alive because the pleaded facts did not establish reasonable force or qualified immunity on the face of the complaint.
“Nor can the Court conclude, at this stage, that Defendant Officer Husnay is entitled to qualified immunity.”
Procedural preferences
In the reviewed unopposed Social Security recommendation, Scullin adopted the magistrate judge’s proposed result after examining the record and entered the final motion dispositions. Other reviewed prisoner and Social Security orders likewise document the adopted result.
“Dkt. No. 22, is ACCEPTED AND ADOPTED;”
In a compassionate-release request, the court weighed recent prison disciplinary incidents and differences between the defendant’s conviction and the comparison cases against a sentence reduction.
“The record, therefore, does not establish an unwarranted disparity among defendants with similar records who were convicted of similar conduct.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERS that the Report-Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Gustave J. DiBianco filed August 31, 2009 is ACCEPTED in its entirety ... ORDERS that defendant's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED ... the complaint is DISMISSED IN ITS ENTIRETY”
“ORDERS that the motion for summary judgment on behalf of defendants, Drs. Wright and De Azevedo is GRANTED ... the remaining claims are DISMISSED IN THEIR ENTIRETY”
“ORDERS that Plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 10, is GRANTED ... this matter is REVERSED and REMANDED to the Commissioner pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. 405”
“ORDERS that Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 15, is DENIED”
“That Plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No 13, is DENIED.”
“The Court further ORDERS that Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 14, is GRANTED. The Court further ORDERS that the Commissioner's decision is AFFIRMED and Plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED.”
“ORDERS that Defendants' motions to dismiss, see Dkt. Nos. 93, 94, 95 and 121 are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part for the above-stated reasons.”
“ORDERS that Plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 15, is DENIED”
“Plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 9, is DENIED;”
“Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 13, is GRANTED;”
“Defendant's motion for compassionate release, see Dkt. No. 226, as supplemented by Defendant's Letter Request, see Dkt. No. 237, is DENIED.”
“Defendant The Saratoga Winter Club's motion for summary judgment, see Dkt. No. 246, is GRANTED.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint, see Dkt. No. 10, is GRANTED with regard to Plaintiff's Fifth Cause of Action and DENIED in all other respects;”
“Plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 9, is GRANTED;”
“Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, see Dkt. No. 12, is DENIED;”
“Plaintiff's motion for summary judgement, see Dkt. No. 10, is GRANTED;”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Scullin's 2026 filings show an active and varied civil and criminal caseload rather than a wound-down senior docket.
- The reviewed matters include FLSA and ADA employment suits, immigration mandamus, prisoner civil rights, school-district disputes, commercial and contract cases, and criminal prosecutions.
- His published decisions historically lean toward prisoner civil-rights summary judgment, often through adoption of a magistrate judge's recommendation, and Social Security appeals.
- Referred magistrate judges in the reviewed cases include Miroslav Lovric, Mitchell J.
- Katz, and Carla B. Freedman.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 17 |
| 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 | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 17 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 28 | 8 |
| Mar 2025 | 35 | 10 |
| Sep 2024 | 25 | 15 |
| Mar 2024 | 18 | 15 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 12 |
| Mar 2023 | 3 | 14 |
| Sep 2022 | 2 | 10 |
| Mar 2022 | 3 | 9 |
| Sep 2021 | 38 | 12 |
| Mar 2021 | 47 | 12 |
| Sep 2020 | 29 | 13 |
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.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, not for Judge Scullin: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 1,302 | 8.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 227 | 4.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 796 | 7.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 267 | 17.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 53.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,302 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,393 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,249 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,444 | 12 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,120 | 10.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,195 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,187 | 9 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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