Thad Heartfield (September 10, 1940 – December 27, 2022) was an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas from 1995 to 2022.
Thad Heartfield
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Born 1940 in Port Arthur, TX
Died 2022 in Houston, TX
FJC ID: 1016
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 6/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 36/year
Texas Eastern District Court · 1995–2022
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Beaumont, Texas1966–1969, 1973–1995
- Lower Neches Valley Authority, TexasDirector · 1983–1994
- Beaumont, TexasCity attorney · 1969–1973
- Jefferson County, TexasAssistant district attorney · 1965–1966
Appointments
1995–2022 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)Term ended: Death
Education
- St. Mary's University School of Law, TexasJ.D. · 1965
- St. Mary's University, TexasB.A. · 1962