Marion Charles Matthes
Judge Matthes no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Matthes decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He treated constitutional court orders as binding despite public resistance and refused to let unlawful opposition supply the reason for delay.
“We say the time has not yet come in these United States when an order of a Federal Court must be whittled away, watered down, or shamefully withdrawn in the face of violent and unlawful acts of individual citizens in opposition thereto.”
He required a real factual inquiry before concluding that a criminal defendant could afford private counsel.
“the record does not convincingly show that there was adequate inquiry into the question of [appellant’s] financial ability to retain counsel”
He read collective-bargaining language according to its practical operation rather than accepting an inferred intermediate arrangement unsupported by the text.
“The language compels the conclusion that the “welfare fund” either exists or it does not; it has either met all prerequisites set forth in the contract or it has not.”
Procedural preferences
He expected trial judges to investigate possible conflicts before appointing one lawyer for multiple defendants.
“the trial judge should, before appointing the same attorney to represent them, conduct a careful inquiry and satisfy himself that no conflict of interest is likely to result and that the parties have no valid objection.”
In nonjury cases, he distinguished an evidentiary error from reversible prejudice by asking whether competent evidence still supported the judgment or the challenged material induced an essential finding.
“the appellate court will not reverse the admission of incompetent evidence unless it appears that all of the competent evidence is insufficient to support the judgment, or unless it affirmatively appears that the incompetent evidence induced the court to make an essential finding which it would not otherwise have made.”
He enforced the boundary between federal original jurisdiction and appellate review of state judgments.
“Federal courts are without authority to function as an appellate arm of the state courts.”
Cautions
Even when contempt was established, he treated personal history, later compliance, and proportionality as relevant to the sentence.
“These factors, individually or collectively, did not warrant violation of the injunction, but are nevertheless mitigating circumstances.”
He required the government to prove the statutory interstate-commerce connection rather than treating felony status and possession alone as sufficient.
“There is nothing in the record to show that the receipt and possession of the firearm by appellant had any connection with or affected interstate commerce. Therefore, the conviction cannot stand.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the order of the District Court is reversed, with directions to dismiss the appellees' petition.”
“Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Matthes no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.