Martin Donald Van Oosterhout
How Judge Oosterhout rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Oosterhout no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Oosterhout
Martin Donald Van Oosterhout was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Judge Van Oosterhout received a commission on August 26, 1954. Judge Van Oosterhout assumed senior status on July 6, 1971 and served until death on January 28, 1979.
How Judge Oosterhout decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Dillon v. United States, Van Oosterhout reversed a firearm-registration conviction and directed dismissal of the indictment after the Supreme Court’s intervening Haynes decision, finding that Dillon had preserved his self-incrimination defense and that the record did not distinguish his case.
“The defendant adequately raised the self-incrimination issue and has not waived his privilege against self-incrimination.”
He assessed administrative findings against the whole record and rejected conclusions unsupported by substantial evidence.
“Under the Universal Camera standard, we find the Board’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole.”
Procedural preferences
In United States v. Cable, Van Oosterhout affirmed the counterfeiting conviction because the defendant had not objected at trial to a reference to gun possession, and that reference did not amount to plain error.
“Defendant’s failure to raise any objection to the question and answer in the trial court precludes review upon appeal absent plain error.”
He treated fact findings deferentially and did not retry credibility disputes on appeal.
“We do not try cases de novo upon appeal.”
Cautions
He invoked plain-error review sparingly, reserving it for a miscarriage of justice rather than ordinary unpreserved error.
“We have repeatedly held that the plain error rule should be applied with caution and should be invoked only to avoid a plain miscarriage of justice.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the judgment appealed from is affirmed.”
“The judgment is reversed and this case is remanded with directions to dismiss the action on its merits.”
“The judgment appealed from is affirmed.”
“The judgment appealed from is affirmed.”
“The judgment of conviction is affirmed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Oosterhout no longer hears cases. 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.