Paul A. Engelmayer

In State of New York et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al., No. 1:25-cv-01144 (S.D.N.Y.), Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, “sitting in Part I,” signed a four-page temporary restraining order dated February 8, 2025 (ECF 6). The order recites an application from the attorneys general of the plaintiff states challenging a Treasury policy that, as alleged, expands access to Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment systems to political appointees and “special government employees.” It finds the states “will face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief,” citing disclosure risk for sensitive information and heightened hacking risk. The decretal paragraphs restrain defendants from granting access to Treasury payment records, payment systems, or other data systems containing PII and/or confidential financial information of payees to political appointees, special government employees, and employees detailed from outside Treasury — other than specified BFS civil servants — and direct destruction of copies downloaded by persons in the restrained classes. The order sets a show-cause hearing before Judge Jeannette A. Vargas and notes permanent assignment to Vargas.

• Feb 8, 2025 — Engelmayer Part I TRO (ECF 6) signed.
• Case permanently assigned to Judge Jeannette A. Vargas; show-cause set for Feb 14, 2025 before Vargas.
• Subsequent TRO modifications / preliminary-injunction work in the same caption are Vargas’s — not Engelmayer’s.

The signed order is his. A temporary restraining order is not a Supreme Court holding, not a conviction, and not a finding that any named individual committed a crime. Later Vargas preliminary-injunction work must not be attributed to Engelmayer.

Ex parte Part I TRO restraining classes of officials from BFS/Treasury systems holding payee PII. District TRO only.

No SCOTUS disposition of this Part I TRO located for this spine. Do not treat Vargas’s later orders as Engelmayer reversals or affirmances.

In United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (PAE), with parallel habeas 25 Civ. 10468 (PAE), Judge Paul A. Engelmayer denied Ghislaine Maxwell’s 28 U.S.C. §2255 petition. The opinion (Document 869) is dated August 25, 2026; the PACER stamp reads Filed 08/24/26. The opinion recites that on December 29, 2021 a jury convicted Maxwell of five of six counts tried; on June 28, 2022 “the Honorable Alison J. Nathan, who presided over trial, sentenced Maxwell principally to a term of 20 years’ imprisonment”; the Second Circuit affirmed, 118 F.4th 256 (2d Cir. 2024); the Supreme Court denied certiorari, 146 S. Ct. 93 (2025). Engelmayer did not try the case.

• Dec 29, 2021 — Jury conviction (Nathan trial).
• Jun 28, 2022 — Nathan sentence, principally 20 years.
• 2024 / Oct 6, 2025 — 2d Cir. affirmance; SCOTUS denies cert.
• Aug 24–25, 2026 — Engelmayer denies §2255 (Doc 869).

On materials Maxwell cited under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, he wrote that purported new evidence “is largely irrelevant to the charges against Maxwell and does not support her claims of error. On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges” (p. 2). Near the end: claims are “demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods” (p. 66). Conclusion: petition denied; any appeal “would not be taken in good faith”; IFP for appeal denied (p. 67).

Post-conviction §2255 denial. Keeps the Nathan-era conviction and sentence in place. Not a new trial. Not a finding about Donald Trump. Those words are not in the holding.

Conviction already affirmed by the Second Circuit; cert denied. This order is the district §2255 denial.

In State of New York et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services et al., No. 1:19-cv-04676-PAE (S.D.N.Y.), on November 6, 2019, Engelmayer issued a 147-page opinion and order. The consolidated cases challenged HHS’s rule “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority,” 84 Fed. Reg. 23,170 (May 21, 2019). The opinion states: “For the following reasons, the Court vacates the Rule in full.”

• May 21, 2019 — HHS final rule published.
• Nov 6, 2019 — Engelmayer vacates the Rule in full.

District-court vacatur of an HHS regulation. Not a Supreme Court holding. Not a crime. Outlets later packaging this as “liberal activism” are commentary, not the judgment.

Full vacatur of the 2019 HHS conscience rule. APA / statutory challenge — not a personal ethics finding.

This file treats the district vacatur as the spine act; no SCOTUS vacatur of this opinion is used as the lead higher-court result here.

Paul Adam Engelmayer was nominated February 2, 2011 by President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Senate confirmed him July 26, 2011 by a vote of 98–0 (Roll Call Vote 117, Executive Session, 112th Congress). The commission issued July 27, 2011. The Federal Judicial Center biography records education (Harvard College B.A. 1983; Harvard Law J.D. 1987), clerkships to Judge Patricia M. Wald (D.C. Cir.) and Justice Thurgood Marshall, AUSA service in S.D.N.Y., Assistant to the Solicitor General, and private practice before the bench.

• Feb 2, 2011 — Nominated.
• Jul 26, 2011 — Senate 98–0.
• Jul 27, 2011 — Commission.

Article III confirmation spine. Not a ruling. Not an ethics finding.

H.Res. 143, 119th Congress, is titled “Impeaching Paul Engelmayer, judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, for high crimes and misdemeanors.” Congress.gov records sponsor Rep. Derrick Van Orden, introduction February 18, 2025, referral to the House Committee on the Judiciary the same day. Tracker status: Introduced. Cosponsor lists later include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (March 21, 2025). The introduced text alleges judicial misconduct in connection with the order that, in the resolution’s words, halted President Trump’s executive order establishing and implementing the Department of Government Efficiency, and uses the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Those are the resolution’s allegations — not court findings, not a conviction, not a removal.

• Feb 8, 2025 — Part I TRO.
• Feb 18, 2025 — H.Res. 143 introduced; referred to Judiciary.
• As of last check: no House floor vote / no Senate trial located for this resolution.

House resolution introduced. Introduction ≠ House vote ≠ Senate conviction ≠ removal from office. This file will not write “IMPEACHED” as a status badge.

Engelmayer’s February 8, 2025 order itself notes permanent assignment to Judge Jeannette A. Vargas and sets further proceedings before her. Later preliminary-injunction and modification work in New York v. Trump, 1:25-cv-01144, belongs to Vargas unless a docket stamp says otherwise. Separately, H.Res. 145, 119th Congress (Rep. Eli Crane), is another introduced impeachment resolution aimed at Engelmayer; Congress.gov status is likewise a filing track, not a removal.

Attribution hygiene: Part I TRO = Engelmayer. Later PI/modifications in the same caption = check the signature block. H.Res. 145 = introduced articles, same labeling rule as H.Res. 143.