George Albert Van Hoomissen (born March 7, 1930) is an American attorney in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. He previously served as the 87th justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

. The

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

native was also the district attorney for

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

, and served as a Democrat in the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

Early life

George Van Hoomissen was born in

, in 1930.Green, Ashbel. After 4 decades, Van Hoomissen leaves his mark on Oregon. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'', December 9, 1999. His primary education was parochial, and he graduated from Central Catholic High School in Portland in 1947. He then went on to the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

where he earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1951.ADR Neutral Resume for Justice George A. Van Hoomissen.
United States Arbitration and Mediation. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Van Hoomissen then joined the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

and served in that branch during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. In the Marines he attained the rank of colonel. After serving in the armed forces he attended law school at

Georgetown University School of Law The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the larges ...

where he earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1955 and an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in labor law in 1957. In 1986 he completed his education with an LL.M in judicial process from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

Legal career

After law school, Van Hoomissen worked as a law clerk for the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1957 until 1959. In 1959, he went into private legal practice in Portland and served as a 28-year-old Democrat to the Oregon Legislature. Van Hoomissen won re-election to the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

in 1960. In 1962, he began an eight-year stint as the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

(DA) for Multnomah County after defeating Charles E. Raymond in the election. As the DA he hired future Oregon Supreme Court justices

Jacob Tanzer Jacob B. Tanzer (February 13, 1935 – July 23, 2018) was an American attorney in the state of Oregon. Prior to private practice Tanzer served as the 81st justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. He also served on the Oregon Court of Appeals, was a d ...

and

W. Michael Gillette W. Michael Gillette (born December 29, 1941) is an American attorney and retired judge in the state of Oregon. He was a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, where he served from 1986 until 2010. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was previously ...

, and future judges Garr M. King, George M. Joseph, and William L. Richardson. He won re-election in 1966 and 1970, but ran unsuccessfully in 1968 for the Secretary of State office losing to Clay Myers by approximately 12,000 votes. In 1971, he resigned as the DA and moved to Texas to become dean of the National College of District Attorneys and a professor at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

’s Bates College of Law.

Judicial career

In 1973, Van Hoomissen returned to Oregon and was appointed as a judge for Multnomah County. From 1973 to 1978 he worked in the Department of Domestic Relations, and from 1978 until leaving the court in 1981 he worked in the General Trial Department. In 1980, Van Hoomissen was elected to the Oregon Court of Appeals to replace J. R. Campbell who had resigned to join the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Oregon Court of Appeals Judges.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Van Hoomissen won re-election to a second six-year term in 1986, and then resigned from the court on September 30, 1988. He resigned to join the Oregon Supreme Court after winning the election to replace

Berkeley Lent Berkeley "Bud" Lent (September 22, 1921 – November 11, 2007) was an American politician and jurist in the state of Oregon. He was the 38th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1982 to 1983. Elected to the court in 1976, Lent r ...

on May 17, 1988. While on the court Van Hoomissen wrote the majority opinion in '' Portland General Elec. Co. v. Bureau of Labor and Industries'', 317 Or. 606, 859 P.2d 1143 (1993), the court’s most cited opinion. In 1996, he wrote the majority opinion overturning voter approved Measure 8 in '' Oregon State Police Officers' Ass'n v. State'', 323 Or. 356, 918 P.2d 765 (1996), holding that the measure violated the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

’s

Contract Clause Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the Contract Clause, imposes certain prohibitions on the states. These prohibitions are meant to protect individuals from intrusion by state governments and to keep ...

. Van Hoomissen won a second six-year term on the state’s highest court in 1994 and then resigned on December 31, 2000 at the end of that second term after not seeking re-election.

Later life

Van Hoomissen is a senior

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

for the state of Oregon, allowing the Supreme Court Chief Justice to appoint him to any judicial position on a temporary basis. He also works as a private

mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation *Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...

and taught at the

Oregon Law Institute Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

.Litigation Strategies and Tips.
Oregon Law Institute. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. He previously served as president of the Oregon District Attorneys Association and the Oregon Appellate Judges Association.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Hoomissen, George 1930 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges American people of Dutch descent Central Catholic High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Multnomah County district attorneys Georgetown University Law Center alumni Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Lawyers from Portland, Oregon Oregon Court of Appeals judges Oregon state court judges University of Portland alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni