Joe L. Heaton (born December 12, 1951) is a Senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Education and career

Born in Alva, Oklahoma, Heaton received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of Oklahoma College of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Boa ...

in 1976. He was a Legislative assistant to United States Senator

Dewey F. Bartlett Dewey Follett Bartlett Sr. (March 28, 1919 – March 1, 1979) was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1971, following his fellow Republican, Henry Bellmon. In 1966, he became the first Roman Ca ...

from 1976 to 1977. He was in private practice in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, from 1977 to 1992 and from 1993 to 1996, also serving as an adjunct instructor at the

University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO or Central State) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with more than 17,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founde ...

from 1980 to 1981 and from 1992 to 1993. Then he was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to serve in the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a state representative in 1984, and was re-elected three times, serving from 1985 to 1993. Next, Heaton was a special Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Oklahoma from 1992 to 1993. Following that, he was a First Assistant United States Attorney of the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Oklahoma from 1996 to 2001.

District court service

On September 4, 2001, Heaton was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma vacated by Ralph Gordon Thompson. Heaton was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 6, 2001, and received his commission on December 10, 2001. He became Chief Judge on November 25, 2015. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on July 1, 2019.

Notable cases

In 2008, Heaton ruled that the

Oklahoma Water Resources Board The Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) is an agency in the government of Oklahoma under the Governor of Oklahoma. OWRB is responsible for managing and protection the water resources of Oklahoma as well as for planning for the state's long-ran ...

’s moratorium on out-of-state water sales applied not only to contracts as the Oklahoma Water Resources Board had argued but also to an application by Tarrant Regional Water District to buy water from the

Kiamichi River The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma, United States of America. A tributary of the Red River of the South, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border. From its source in Polk County, ...

to meet the water needs of rapidly growing

Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...

and some adjacent areas in Texas. The case would ultimately reach the Supreme Court, where Oklahoma’s ban on out-of-state water sales was unanimously upheld in '' Tarrant Regional Water District, Petitioner v. Rudolf John Herrmann, et al.''. In November 2012, Heaton ruled against

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 969 stores in 47 US states. Hobby Lobby is owned by ...

in its bid not to be forced to provide emergency contraception to its employees. On July 19, 2013, he granted the company a preliminary injunction, barring HHS from enforcing the contraception mandate against Hobby Lobby and its affiliate Mardel Christian Bookstores.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaton, Joe L. 1951 births Living people Republican Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush 21st-century American judges Northwestern Oklahoma State University alumni University of Oklahoma College of Law alumni People from Alva, Oklahoma University of Central Oklahoma faculty Assistant United States Attorneys