Joe L. Heaton

Joe L. Heaton (born 1951), is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Born in Alva, Oklahoma, Heaton received a B.A. from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 1973 and a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1976. He was a Legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Dewey F. Bartlett from 1976 to 1977. He was in private practice in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from 1977 to -1992 and from 1993 to 1996, also serving as an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Oklahoma from 1980 to 1981 and from 1992 to 1993. Then he was elected as a Republican 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 U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Oklahoma from 1992 to 1993. Following that, he was a First assistant U.S. attorney of U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Oklahoma from 1996 to 2001.

On September 4, 2001, Heaton was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma vacated by Ralph G. Thompson. Heaton was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 6, 2001, and received his commission on December 10, 2001. He became Chief Judge on November 25, 2015.

In November 2012, Heaton ruled against Hobby Lobby 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.^[1]

Sources

• Joe L. Heaton at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

References