James Michael Rosenbaum
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, James Michael Rosenbaum was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. He earned a law degree from University of Minnesota Law School in 1969. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1944 · age 82
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Minnesota 1966 · University of Minnesota Law School 1969
- Succeeded by
- Susan Richard Nelson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | District of Minnesota | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| University of Minnesota | B.A. | 1966 |
| University of Minnesota Law School | J.D. | 1969 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Rosenbaum was assigned 8,161 district-court cases (1972–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 296 days across 8,161 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
On appeal
Of 135 of Rosenbaum’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 115 were affirmed, 18 reversed or vacated, and 2 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Rosenbaum authored 175 published opinions for the court (1985–2010). Most cited: Holden v. Burlington Northern, Inc. (30 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Holden v. Burlington Northern, Inc. | 665 F. Supp. 1398 | 30 |
| 2009 | Onyiah v. St. Cloud State University | 655 F. Supp. 2d 948 | 29 |
| 2009 | Kinetic Co. v. Medtronic, Inc. | 672 F. Supp. 2d 933 | 24 |
| 1992 | Mathern v. United Mortgage Corp. (In Re Mathern) | 141 B.R. 667 | 23 |
| 1998 | Luckett v. Beaudet | 21 F. Supp. 2d 1029 | 22 |
| 2006 | In Re Medtronic, Inc., Implantable Defibrillators | 465 F. Supp. 2d 886 | 21 |
| 1988 | Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Amundson | 682 F. Supp. 981 | 21 |
| 2007 | Lundeen v. Canadian Pacific Railway Co. | 507 F. Supp. 2d 1006 | 19 |
| 1989 | Fuqua v. Unisys Corp. | 716 F. Supp. 1201 | 18 |
| 2005 | Witczak v. Pfizer, Inc. | 377 F. Supp. 2d 726 | 17 |
| 1998 | American Dairy Queen Corp. v. New Line Productions, Inc. | 35 F. Supp. 2d 727 | 17 |
| 1985 | West Publishing Co. v. Mead Data Central, Inc. | 616 F. Supp. 1571 | 17 |
| 2009 | Marty H. Segelbaum, Inc. v. MW CAPITAL, LLC | 673 F. Supp. 2d 875 | 16 |
| 1993 | Green v. Lake of the Woods County | 815 F. Supp. 305 | 16 |
| 2006 | Siebert v. Amateur Athletic Union of United States, Inc. | 422 F. Supp. 2d 1033 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 175 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed James Michael Rosenbaum?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed James Michael Rosenbaum to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1985.
- Was James Michael Rosenbaum appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Michael Rosenbaum was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Michael Rosenbaum's confirmation vote?
- James Michael Rosenbaum was confirmed by voice vote on July 16, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James Michael Rosenbaum on?
- James Michael Rosenbaum was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
25 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).