He served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, where he performed counterintelligence duties in Korea after hostilities ended.
[4] Matsch was nominated by President Richard Nixon on January 31, 1974, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado vacated by Judge Olin Hatfield Chilson.
[4] Matsch presided over the trial of Oklahoma City bombing defendants Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
[5] Matsch was also the judge in a lawsuit (Phillips et al. vs. Lucky Gunner)[6] in Denver where Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was one of 12 people killed in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, shooting.
Matsch dismissed the case and ordered that Sandy and Lonnie Phillips pay $220,000 in legal costs.