Thad Heartfield
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1995 and confirmed by voice vote, Thad Heartfield was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law, Texas in 1965. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1940–2022
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1995
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- St. Mary's, Texas 1962 · St. Mary's Law, Texas 1965
- Succeeded
- Robert Manley Parker
- Succeeded by
- James Rodney Gilstrap
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Eastern District of Texas succeeded Robert Manley Parker | Clinton (D) | 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
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Heartfield was assigned 5,552 district-court cases (1970–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 195 days across 5,527 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 188 of Heartfield’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 155 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 20 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, Heartfield authored 66 published opinions for the court (1995–2009). Most cited: Gauthier v. Union Pacific Railroad (90 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Gauthier v. Union Pacific Railroad | 644 F. Supp. 2d 824 | 90 |
| 2000 | Shaw v. Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. | 91 F. Supp. 2d 942 | 61 |
| 2000 | Mohamed v. Mazda Motor Corp. | 90 F. Supp. 2d 757 | 54 |
| 1996 | Youngblood Group v. Lufkin Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n | 932 F. Supp. 859 | 41 |
| 2000 | Broussard v. Oryx Energy Co. | 110 F. Supp. 2d 532 | 32 |
| 1995 | Jones v. State | 893 F. Supp. 643 | 29 |
| 2006 | Chargois v. Barnhart | 454 F. Supp. 2d 631 | 23 |
| 2008 | United States Ex Rel. Foster v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. | 587 F. Supp. 2d 805 | 22 |
| 1997 | Cash v. Conn Appliances, Inc. | 2 F. Supp. 2d 884 | 21 |
| 1995 | McC Ex Rel. McC v. Corrigan-Camden Independent School District | 909 F. Supp. 1023 | 18 |
| 2008 | Mills v. Warner-Lambert Co. | 581 F. Supp. 2d 772 | 17 |
| 1999 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Safety National Casualty Corp. | 43 F. Supp. 2d 734 | 17 |
| 1996 | Jacobs v. Port Neches Police Department | 915 F. Supp. 842 | 17 |
| 2005 | Prince v. Barnhart | 418 F. Supp. 2d 863 | 15 |
| 1999 | Faulk v. Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. | 48 F. Supp. 2d 653 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 66 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 Thad Heartfield?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Thad Heartfield to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 1995.
- Was Thad Heartfield appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Thad Heartfield was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Thad Heartfield's confirmation vote?
- Thad Heartfield was confirmed by voice vote on March 17, 1995. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Thad Heartfield on?
- Thad Heartfield was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
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.
27 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).