Caroline Goldner Cinquanto
How Judge Cinquanto rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cinquanto
Caroline Goldner Cinquanto joined the United States magistrate bench for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in May 2025. Before her appointment, she practiced federal criminal defense, taught trial advocacy, and served as a judge advocate in the military.
Judge Cinquanto's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cinquanto, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Contacting chambers
Send any extension request by email before the existing deadline and state the basis, opposing positions, and proposed new date.
“shall request a new deadline or date in advance of the originally scheduled date via email”
Conferences
For a settlement conference, plaintiffs must send an updated written demand at least three weeks beforehand.
“Plaintiff(s) must make an updated, precise, and specific written settlement demand, inclusive of all attorney’s fees, costs, and damages, at least three weeks before a scheduled settlement conference.”
Conferences
For a settlement conference, defendants must send an updated written offer at least two weeks beforehand.
“Defendant(s) must make an updated, precise, and specific written settlement offer at least two weeks before the conference.”
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 8, 2026).
- Standing Order on Procedure for Case Opening ↗
- Standing Order on Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Standing Order on Access and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Standing Order on Filing Procedures in Alien Detainee Cases ↗
- Second Amended Standing Order on Guilty Pleas and Sentencing ↗
- Standing Order on Electronic Document Submission for Unrepresented Litigants ↗
- Standing Procedural Order for Cases Seeking Social Security Review ↗
- Superseding Standing Order on Procedural Matters in Pro Se Civil and Habeas Cases ↗
- Standing Order on Electronic Access to Civil and Criminal Transcripts ↗
How Judge Cinquanto decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Cole T. v. Bisignano, Cinquanto recommended remanding a Social Security appeal for further proceedings because the ALJ had not resolved a conflict in vocational evidence.
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is not supported by substantial evidence and recommend that the case be remanded for further proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
She remanded a benefits denial where the administrative decision failed to address school records and medical opinions showing a gap in the evidence about psychological limitations.
“He neglected to acknowledge or address Plaintiff’s school records and the opinion of two state agency physicians that the evidence was insufficient to determine the limitations attributable to Plaintiff’s psychologically based impairments.”
Procedural preferences
In two habeas matters, Judge Cinquanto recommended denying relief after addressing timeliness and ineffective-assistance arguments; district judges adopted both recommendations in full.
“2. The Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Cinquanto (Doc. No. 16) is APPROVED and ADOPTED. 3. The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. No. 2) is DENIED.”
Cautions
In two consent Social Security appeals, Judge Cinquanto affirmed the agency after finding that substantial evidence supported the administrative decision.
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is supported by substantial evidence and affirm the Commissioner’s decision. ... The ALJ’s decision is supported by substantial evidence.”
In an employment discrimination suit, she entered summary judgment for the university where the plaintiff failed to connect the adverse action to an inference of discrimination.
“Plaintiff has not produced evidence to support that he suffered an adverse employment action which gives rise to an inference of discrimination.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is not supported by substantial evidence and recommend that the case be remanded for further proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). ... Because the ALJ failed to resolve a conflict in the vocational evidence, the VE’s testimony does not provide substantial evidence to support the step five determination”
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is supported by substantial evidence and affirm the Commissioner’s decision. ... The ALJ’s decision is supported by substantial evidence.”
“I conclude that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is supported by substantial evidence and affirm the Commissioner’s decision. ... The ALJ properly considered the opinion evidence and adequately explained his reasoning with references to the record.”
“2. The Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Cinquanto (Doc. No. 16) is APPROVED and ADOPTED. 3. The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. No. 2) is DENIED.”
“2. The Report and Recommendation (Dkt. No. 19) is APPROVED and ADOPTED; 3. The Amended Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (Dkt. No. 8) is DENIED without an evidentiary hearing”
“AND NOW, this 31st day of March, 2026, upon consideration of Defendant’s Opposition to the Government’s Motion for a Detention Hearing pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3142(f) (Doc. 14), after hearing argument in open court, and for the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant’s objection is OVERRULED.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. Counts I, II, IV, and V of Plaintiff Terrie Evans’ Complaint are DISMISSED without prejudice. The individual claims against Thomas Randolph and Gwen Shenk in Count III are DISMISSED without prejudice. It is further ORDERED that Plaintiff may file an amended complaint no later than March 13, 2026.”
“Judgment is entered affirming the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and the relief sought by Plaintiff is DENIED;”
“JUDGMENT is entered REVERSING the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security for the purposes of this remand only and the relief sought by Plaintiff is GRANTED to the extent that the matter is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this adjudication;”
“Judgment is entered affirming the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and the relief sought by Plaintiff is DENIED;”
“JUDGMENT is entered REVERSING the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security for the purposes of this remand only and the relief sought by Plaintiff is GRANTED to the extent that the matter is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this adjudication;”
“Judgment is entered affirming the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and the relief sought by Plaintiff is DENIED;”
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, not for Judge Cinquanto: 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 | 5,730 | 5.1 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,952 | 3.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,834 | 4.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 898 | 10 months |
| Closed during trial | 46 | 17.8 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 5,730 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2024 | 6,200 | 4.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 6,595 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 5,221 | 6.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 5,245 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 4,686 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,374 | 6 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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