Aaron E. Goodstein
How Judge Goodstein rules, drawn from 8 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Goodstein
Aaron E. Goodstein served as a United States magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin after his appointment in 1979. He retired from full-time service in June 2010 and now serves on recall.
Judge Goodstein's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Goodstein'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).
How Judge Goodstein decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Universal Brixius, Goodstein denied the employer’s motion to dismiss after finding that specific alleged acts of sex discrimination made the complaint plausible.
“Therefore, the court shall deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss.”
Procedural preferences
In the cited habeas case, Goodstein issued a decision and order granting the writ of habeas corpus.
“DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS”
Cautions
In a fact-dependent leave-notice dispute, he denied the defendant’s summary-judgment motion because the record did not resolve the remaining factual issue.
“the defendant's motion for summary judgment, (Docket No. 23), is denied”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Therefore, the court shall deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss.”
“the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, (Docket No. 23), is denied”
“the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, (Docket No. 26), is denied”
“the plaintiffs motion to strike, (Docket No. 55), is denied as moot”
“DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS”
“THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff’s motions for appointment of counsel are denied.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the motions to quash the subpoenas be GRANTED, in part, in accordance with this *532decision.”
“The award of reasonable costs and expenses is DENIED.”
“THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the motion of the government to dismiss the Rule 41(e) motion for return of property is hereby GRANTED.”
“IT IS THEREFORE RECOMMENDED that Johnson’s Motion to Suppress Evidence, (Docket No. 441), be denied.”
“THE COURT HEREBY ORDERS that the Clerk amend the judgment in this matter so that all right, title and interest in the defendant property, $15,452.00 in United States currency, is forfeited to the United States of America.”
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Goodstein was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2021.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| 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 | 0 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, not for Judge Goodstein: 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 | 1,062 | 6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 137 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 879 | 6.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 36 | 13.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 22.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,062 | 6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 982 | 6.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,028 | 8 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,065 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,134 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,184 | 7.1 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,253 | 6.9 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).
Draft for Judge Goodstein with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Goodstein, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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