Harris Hartz

Hartz received his Artium Baccalaureus degree in physics, summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1967 and his Juris Doctor in 1972 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude.

Prior to his appointment to the Tenth Circuit, Hartz had a record of experience both in public service and private practice. He was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico from 1972 to 1975, and thereafter spent a year as an assistant professor of law at University of Illinois College of Law. He served on the Governor of New Mexico's Organized Crime Prevention Commission from 1976–1979, first as counsel, then as executive director. After that, he was in private practice for nine years before serving as a judge and Chief Judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals from 1988–1999, during which time he authored approximately 300 opinions.[1] He then returned to private practice at a law firm, serving as special counsel to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, where he worked with the union to develop a code of conduct and an internal system for compliance and enforcement.[2]

Hartz has been active in the American Law Institute since 1993 and has served as an Adviser for the Restatement of the Law (Third) Agency. He has also been a member of the American Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee of the Appellate Judges Conference and the Advisory Committee to ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security. He currently sits on the Board of Overseers of the Searle Civil Justice Institute, a program of the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University School of Law.

Hartz was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001 to replace Judge Bobby Ray Baldock, who took senior status. Hartz was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 6, 2001, by a vote of 99–0.

Riviera Drilling & Exploration Co. v. Gunnison Energy Corp. et al., No. 10-1081 (10th Cir. 2014) – In an unpublished order and judgment written by Judge Hartz, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the lower court's dismissal of a $100 million antitrust case against an energy company accused of setting artificially high prices for its gas pipeline in Colorado.

United States v. Heineman, 767 F.3d 970 (10th Cir. 2014) – In a first amendment free speech case, Defendant Aaron Michael Heineman e-mailed a hateful poem to a University of Utah professor. In an opinion written by Judge Hartz, the Tenth Circuit adhered to the view that Virginia v. Black required the district court to find that Defendant intended to instill fear before it could convict him of violating 18 U.S.C. § 875(c).

• Hartz, Harris (2014). "How do Judges Think?". Denver University Law Review. 91: 575–581.
• Hartz, Harris (20 October 2009). "Remarks Before Sentencing Commission" (PDF). USSC.gov. United States Sentencing Commission.

• Harris Hartz at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• U.S. Department of Justice Profile