Gerald William Heaney
Encyclopedia
Gerald William Heaney served for nearly forty years as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
, from his appointment by President Lyndon B. Johnson
in November 1966 until his full retirement in August 2006. Heaney’s career in public service began in 1941, upon graduation from law school. He soon enlisted in the United States Army
, volunteered for the U.S. Rangers, and soon became a second lieutenant in the 2nd Ranger Battalion
. Heaney’s endurance as a judge was foretold by his endurance as a Ranger; of the hundreds of members of the Second Ranger Battalion who landed at Normandy on the early hours of D-Day, Heaney was one of only three still on the front lines with the Rangers on VE Day. Between the end of World War II
and his appointment to the federal bench, he rewrote the Free State of Bavaria
’s labor laws, and was a valued political advisor and organizer for several liberal democratic politicians, including Hubert Humphrey
, Adlai Stevenson, Orville Freeman
, Eugene McCarthy
, and Walter Mondale
. As an appellate court judge, Heaney typically favored broad interpretations of the Bill of Rights
and civil rights, labor and employment rights statutes. As judges who shared his views retired from active service and were replaced by new judges (usually chosen by Republican presidents), Judge Heaney was increasingly outvoted; for that reason his second twenty years a judge were less influential than his first twenty years.
Gerald Heaney was born in the farming community of Goodhue
, in southeastern Minnesota, on January 29, 1918. He was one of seven children of a butcher (William J. Heaney) and his wife (Johanna (Ryan) Heaney). Heaney's involvement in political campaigns began with the 1928 presidential election
, when, as a ten-year-old, he assisted in posting campaign signs for New York Governor and Democratic Nominee Al Smith
. Heaney came of age during the Great Depression. He attended the College (now University) of St. Thomas
, then transferred to the University of Minnesota
, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1939. Upon graduation he enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School
. Heaney received his law degree in 1941, and then worked in the securities division of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. However, his legal career was soon interrupted by the United States’ entry into World War II.
In 1942, at age 24, Heaney enlisted. After the United States Marines
rejected him due to color blindness, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army
. He then volunteered for the U.S. Rangers, and would soon be commissioned as a second lieutenant in Company C of the Second Ranger Battalion, then in intense training to serve as a spearhead in Operation Overlord
, the Allied invasion of western Europe.
Organizers of Operation Overlord decided that Ranger Company C would constitute Ranger “Task Force B.” Unlike Ranger Task Force A (which scaled Pointe du Hoc, as depicted in "The Longest Day") and Ranger Task Force C (which landed in Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach
as depicted at the outset of "Saving Private Ryan
"), the story of Task Force B on D-Day is lesser-known. In the first minutes of the invasion’s amphibious landing, Task Force B disembarked in “Charlie” sector of Omaha Beach. That sector was located at Omaha Beach’s far western end, where the beach abruptly terminates in a rocky promontory of 100-foot cliffs called Pointe de la Percee. The Task Force’s mission included taking out the four German pillboxes at the top of the cliffs, as part of coordinated actions with Rangers’ efforts to take the Vierville
draw (to the east) and Pointe du Hoc
(to the west).
In a Library of Congress
oral history interview conducted by Congressman James Oberstar, Heaney recounted the first moments of the battle:
"At 6:30 we arrived close to the beach. We could not quite get into the beach because of the obstacles that the Germans had placed under water and also had proximity bombs that would blow up ships. They were having trouble getting the vessels in, so they could not get to the beach, but they got into relatively shallow water. And the door went down on the landing craft, and the captain stood up and said, everyone ashore, and he was cut down by gunfire. And the first lieutenant stood up and said, everyone ashore, and he was cut down by gunfire. And then that left me, Second Lieutenant Gerald Heaney, in charge, and I looked up and said, we are not going out that door; everybody over the side." Unfortunately, the landing craft had stopped in water over the heads of the soldiers, most of whom were burdened down by packs and equipment. Only by cutting loose their equipment and then swimming to shore could most of them avoid drowning.
Only half of the members of Task Force B reached the relative safety at the foot of the cliff. The Task Force’s preferred route to the high ground – through the Vierville draw in Dog Green sector – had quickly become a killing zone, forcing Task Force B to find a route directly up the face of the cliff. Without the London fire ladders that helped Task Force A to take Pointe du Hoc, and with most of their other climbing equipment at the bottom of the Channel, Task Force B’s surviving Rangers used bayonets thrust into the cliffs as footholds, and eventually reached the crest of Pointe de la Percee. There, control of the trenches surrounding the pillboxes switched back and forth between German and American forces for hours, further depleting the Company’s ammunition and manpower. By the end of the battle, Task Force B secured Charlie sector, but at great cost in lives. For his heroism on D-Day, Second Lieutenant Heaney was awarded the Silver Star
.
After D-Day, the Second Ranger Battalion served alongside regular infantry units in areas such as the Cherbourg peninsula (in June–July 1944), Brest
(in August–September 1944), the Crozon peninsula (September 1944), LeFret (September 1944) and the Hürtgen Forest (in December 1944). For his courage in battles after D-Day, Heaney was awarded a Bronze Star
.
By May 1945, Heaney’s unit had reached so deeply into Axis-held territory that it crossed Germany’s pre-1938 eastern border, entering areas of Bohemia
that later would be turned over to Soviet control and become a part of Czechoslovakia
(now a part of the Czech Republic
). There, as Germany’s surrender was imminent, Heaney – now a captain—was responsible for a poignant moment. American, British, and Soviet forces had met and were preparing for a flag-raising ceremony, when Heaney recognized that no American flag was available. Heaney went into a nearby village, found swatches of red, white and blue cloth, and seamstresses, and convinced them to create a 48-star U.S. flag in time for the ceremony. That impromptu flag returned home with Captain Heaney, and serves as a cherished feature of many patriotic events in Duluth.
Because of the Second Ranger Battalion’s extraordinary service, General Omar Bradley permitted them to return home as a group. Before returning, however, Heaney assisted the new government of Bavaria
in West Germany
to revise its labor laws, helping to organize a free trade movement. Heaney left the service in 1946.
. By 1948, he soon found himself in the middle of a watershed year in the history that Party, as a new generation of young liberals led by future governor Orville Freeman
and Minneapolis Mayor (and U.S. Senate Candidate) Hubert Humphrey
wrested control of the Party away from supporters of third-party presidential candidate Henry Wallace
, while at the same time building the foundation for a 30-year political dynasty. Among that group, Heaney was considered “one of the shrewdest politicians in Minnesota,” and became a Democratic National Committeeman in 1955. Heaney became involved in Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign. In Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey’s unsuccessful run for the democratic presidential nomination in 1960, Heaney served as a campaign manager. In 1964 he was appointed by the Minnesota Legislature to fill a vacancy on the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota.
Heaney’s political career was not without its setbacks. In May 1960, during the DFL convention, he was unseated as a member of the Democratic National Committee. Newspapers reported that “his foes called him high-handed, arrogant and ruthless.” In 1965, the Minnesota Legislature ended his career as a university regent, even though he was an incumbent and the governor’s nominee for reappointment, and the Legislature had not failed to reappoint a regent for twelve years. His rejection was attributed to conservatives in the Legislature.
program. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 20, 1966, received his commission on November 3, 1966, and began serving in December 1966.
The Heaney appointment was one of three by Johnson to the Eighth Circuit that collectively altered the balance of the court. Heaney, along with Johnson nominees Myron H. Bright
of North Dakota and Donald P. Lay
of Nebraska and Iowa, “were more likely to vote for civil liberties claims and were more willing to accept an activist judiciary (as well as more likely to publish dissents) than their predecessors.” Judges Heaney, Lay and Bright also shared a relative youthfulness at the time of appointment and a commitment to public service that led each of them to remain on the bench for many decades; the three have served, collectively, over 120 years on the bench.
Judge Heaney assumed senior status
on December 31, 1988, but continued to serve as a senior judge, primarily in the Eighth Circuit but often by designation in other circuits, until August 2006.
According to Judge Bright, Judge Heaney hired the Eighth Circuit’s first woman law clerk (Rebecca Knittle, in 1970), and its first African-American law clerk (Henry L. Jones, Jr., later a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Little Rock, Arkansas).
In Brenden v. Independent School District No. 742, 477 F.2d 1292, 1300 (8th Cir. 1973), two female students who requested to participate in non-contact sports at schools that offered no varsity teams for females brought an action claiming that a state high school league rule prohibiting females from participating with males in interscholastic sports violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Writing for the Court, Judge Heaney found the rule unconstitutional, holding that the activities were non-contact and the females displayed the ability to compete with males.
In U.S. v. City of Black Jack, Missouri, 508 F.2d 1179 (8th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1042 (1975), the Eighth Circuit became one of the first U.S. Courts of Appeals to decide what standards should apply to challenges under the Civil Rights Act of 1968
, otherwise known as the Fair Housing Act, to zoning decisions that allegedly had a disproportionate impact on the ability of residents of segregated communities to move to desegregated communities. Writing for the court, Judge Heaney found that the City’s actions violated the Act because of its disparate impact on the ability of minority group residents of St. Louis to relocate to suburban Black Jack, and because Black Jack’s justification did not satisfy a rigorous standard. The Supreme Court declined to review the case, and for many years Judge Heaney’s analysis was cited approvingly by other federal courts interpreting the Act.
In Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Delaware v. Kassel, 612 F.2d 1064 (8th Cir. 1979), aff’d, 450 U.S. 662 (1981), Iowa’s prohibition of extra-long semitrailer trucks was alleged to unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce, in violation of what is known as the dormant Commerce Clause. the court upheld the claim and struck down the requirement. In the court’s opinion, Judge Heaney reasoned that, while “some burdening of interstate commerce will be tolerated” for the sake of safety, The Iowa regulation failed because it burdened interstate commerce and failed to directly protect a state safety interest. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this ruling.
's successful campaign for mayor of Duluth.
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Arkansas* Western District of Arkansas...
, from his appointment by President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
in November 1966 until his full retirement in August 2006. Heaney’s career in public service began in 1941, upon graduation from law school. He soon enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, volunteered for the U.S. Rangers, and soon became a second lieutenant in the 2nd Ranger Battalion
2nd Ranger Battalion
2nd Ranger Battalion is the name of two distinct units of United States Army Rangers. The first was part of the six Ranger battalions of the Second World War...
. Heaney’s endurance as a judge was foretold by his endurance as a Ranger; of the hundreds of members of the Second Ranger Battalion who landed at Normandy on the early hours of D-Day, Heaney was one of only three still on the front lines with the Rangers on VE Day. Between the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and his appointment to the federal bench, he rewrote the Free State of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
’s labor laws, and was a valued political advisor and organizer for several liberal democratic politicians, including Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, Adlai Stevenson, Orville Freeman
Orville Freeman
Orville Lothrop Freeman was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955 to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...
, Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
, and Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
. As an appellate court judge, Heaney typically favored broad interpretations of the Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
and civil rights, labor and employment rights statutes. As judges who shared his views retired from active service and were replaced by new judges (usually chosen by Republican presidents), Judge Heaney was increasingly outvoted; for that reason his second twenty years a judge were less influential than his first twenty years.
Personal background
Goodhue, Minnesota
Goodhue is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,176 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, in southeastern Minnesota, on January 29, 1918. He was one of seven children of a butcher (William J. Heaney) and his wife (Johanna (Ryan) Heaney). Heaney's involvement in political campaigns began with the 1928 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1928
The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from Anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and...
, when, as a ten-year-old, he assisted in posting campaign signs for New York Governor and Democratic Nominee Al Smith
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...
. Heaney came of age during the Great Depression. He attended the College (now University) of St. Thomas
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
The University of St. Thomas is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...
, then transferred to the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1939. Upon graduation he enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
. Heaney received his law degree in 1941, and then worked in the securities division of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. However, his legal career was soon interrupted by the United States’ entry into World War II.
Service in World War II
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
rejected him due to color blindness, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He then volunteered for the U.S. Rangers, and would soon be commissioned as a second lieutenant in Company C of the Second Ranger Battalion, then in intense training to serve as a spearhead in Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, the Allied invasion of western Europe.
Organizers of Operation Overlord decided that Ranger Company C would constitute Ranger “Task Force B.” Unlike Ranger Task Force A (which scaled Pointe du Hoc, as depicted in "The Longest Day") and Ranger Task Force C (which landed in Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
as depicted at the outset of "Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
"), the story of Task Force B on D-Day is lesser-known. In the first minutes of the invasion’s amphibious landing, Task Force B disembarked in “Charlie” sector of Omaha Beach. That sector was located at Omaha Beach’s far western end, where the beach abruptly terminates in a rocky promontory of 100-foot cliffs called Pointe de la Percee. The Task Force’s mission included taking out the four German pillboxes at the top of the cliffs, as part of coordinated actions with Rangers’ efforts to take the Vierville
Vierville-sur-Mer
-External links:* *...
draw (to the east) and Pointe du Hoc
Pointe du Hoc
Pointe du Hoc is a clifftop location on the coast of Normandy in northern France. It lies 4 miles west of Omaha Beach, and stands on 100 ft tall cliffs overlooking the sea...
(to the west).
In a Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
oral history interview conducted by Congressman James Oberstar, Heaney recounted the first moments of the battle:
"At 6:30 we arrived close to the beach. We could not quite get into the beach because of the obstacles that the Germans had placed under water and also had proximity bombs that would blow up ships. They were having trouble getting the vessels in, so they could not get to the beach, but they got into relatively shallow water. And the door went down on the landing craft, and the captain stood up and said, everyone ashore, and he was cut down by gunfire. And the first lieutenant stood up and said, everyone ashore, and he was cut down by gunfire. And then that left me, Second Lieutenant Gerald Heaney, in charge, and I looked up and said, we are not going out that door; everybody over the side." Unfortunately, the landing craft had stopped in water over the heads of the soldiers, most of whom were burdened down by packs and equipment. Only by cutting loose their equipment and then swimming to shore could most of them avoid drowning.
Only half of the members of Task Force B reached the relative safety at the foot of the cliff. The Task Force’s preferred route to the high ground – through the Vierville draw in Dog Green sector – had quickly become a killing zone, forcing Task Force B to find a route directly up the face of the cliff. Without the London fire ladders that helped Task Force A to take Pointe du Hoc, and with most of their other climbing equipment at the bottom of the Channel, Task Force B’s surviving Rangers used bayonets thrust into the cliffs as footholds, and eventually reached the crest of Pointe de la Percee. There, control of the trenches surrounding the pillboxes switched back and forth between German and American forces for hours, further depleting the Company’s ammunition and manpower. By the end of the battle, Task Force B secured Charlie sector, but at great cost in lives. For his heroism on D-Day, Second Lieutenant Heaney was awarded the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
.
After D-Day, the Second Ranger Battalion served alongside regular infantry units in areas such as the Cherbourg peninsula (in June–July 1944), Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
(in August–September 1944), the Crozon peninsula (September 1944), LeFret (September 1944) and the Hürtgen Forest (in December 1944). For his courage in battles after D-Day, Heaney was awarded a Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
.
By May 1945, Heaney’s unit had reached so deeply into Axis-held territory that it crossed Germany’s pre-1938 eastern border, entering areas of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
that later would be turned over to Soviet control and become a part of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
(now a part of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
). There, as Germany’s surrender was imminent, Heaney – now a captain—was responsible for a poignant moment. American, British, and Soviet forces had met and were preparing for a flag-raising ceremony, when Heaney recognized that no American flag was available. Heaney went into a nearby village, found swatches of red, white and blue cloth, and seamstresses, and convinced them to create a 48-star U.S. flag in time for the ceremony. That impromptu flag returned home with Captain Heaney, and serves as a cherished feature of many patriotic events in Duluth.
Because of the Second Ranger Battalion’s extraordinary service, General Omar Bradley permitted them to return home as a group. Before returning, however, Heaney assisted the new government of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
to revise its labor laws, helping to organize a free trade movement. Heaney left the service in 1946.
Political and legal career
Upon his return to Minnesota, Heaney moved to Duluth, practicing labor law with the Lewis, Hammer, Heaney, Weyl and Halverson firm, and becoming deeply involved in activities of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (“DFL”) PartyMinnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
. By 1948, he soon found himself in the middle of a watershed year in the history that Party, as a new generation of young liberals led by future governor Orville Freeman
Orville Freeman
Orville Lothrop Freeman was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955 to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...
and Minneapolis Mayor (and U.S. Senate Candidate) Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
wrested control of the Party away from supporters of third-party presidential candidate Henry Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
, while at the same time building the foundation for a 30-year political dynasty. Among that group, Heaney was considered “one of the shrewdest politicians in Minnesota,” and became a Democratic National Committeeman in 1955. Heaney became involved in Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign. In Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey’s unsuccessful run for the democratic presidential nomination in 1960, Heaney served as a campaign manager. In 1964 he was appointed by the Minnesota Legislature to fill a vacancy on the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota.
Heaney’s political career was not without its setbacks. In May 1960, during the DFL convention, he was unseated as a member of the Democratic National Committee. Newspapers reported that “his foes called him high-handed, arrogant and ruthless.” In 1965, the Minnesota Legislature ended his career as a university regent, even though he was an incumbent and the governor’s nominee for reappointment, and the Legislature had not failed to reappoint a regent for twelve years. His rejection was attributed to conservatives in the Legislature.
Nomination to the Eighth Circuit
In 1966 Congress added a seat to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. By then, former Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman was President Lyndon Johnson’s Secretary of Agriculture, and Freeman recommended to Johnson that he choose Heaney for the open seat. Freeman noted in his letter to President Johnson that Heaney was a close personal friend, had served as a Democratic National Committee member from Minnesota, was an excellent lawyer, and a supporter of Johnson’s Great SocietyGreat Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
program. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 20, 1966, received his commission on November 3, 1966, and began serving in December 1966.
Service on the Eighth Circuit
Myron H. Bright
Myron H. Bright is a United States federal judge.Bright was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1942, rising to the rank of captain by the time of his discharge in 1946. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Minnesota, the latter in 1947...
of North Dakota and Donald P. Lay
Donald P. Lay
Donald Pomery Lay was an American jurist who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for 40 years, including as chief judge from 1979 to 1982....
of Nebraska and Iowa, “were more likely to vote for civil liberties claims and were more willing to accept an activist judiciary (as well as more likely to publish dissents) than their predecessors.” Judges Heaney, Lay and Bright also shared a relative youthfulness at the time of appointment and a commitment to public service that led each of them to remain on the bench for many decades; the three have served, collectively, over 120 years on the bench.
Judge Heaney assumed senior status
Senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges, and judges in some state court systems. After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of service on the federal courts, they are allowed to assume senior status...
on December 31, 1988, but continued to serve as a senior judge, primarily in the Eighth Circuit but often by designation in other circuits, until August 2006.
According to Judge Bright, Judge Heaney hired the Eighth Circuit’s first woman law clerk (Rebecca Knittle, in 1970), and its first African-American law clerk (Henry L. Jones, Jr., later a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Little Rock, Arkansas).
School desegregation in St. Louis, Missouri
During Heaney’s tenure on the Eighth Circuit, school desegregation suits arising in cities such as Little Rock, St. Louis and Kansas City were among the court’s most complex and lengthy proceedings. Judge Heaney played a particularly personal role in the St. Louis desegregation case, and wrote every appellate opinion in the case after 1980. The case involved implementation of a voluntary city-county transfer plan, and eventually drew 13,000 black students to county schools from the city, which Heaney credits for an increase in the percentage of black students who graduated from high school and went on to college. In 2004, after recusing himself from the St. Louis desegregation cases, Judge Heaney co-authored (with Dr. Susan Uchitelle, a former law clerk), a book on segregation and desegregation in the St. Louis school systems entitled “Unending Struggle: The Long Road to an Equal Education in St. Louis.”Influential opinions
In Chess v. Widmar, 635 F.2d 1310, 1320 (8th Cir. 1980), members of a religious student organization at a the University of Missouri-Kansas City alleged that university officials violated their right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment by refusing to grant them equal access to university facilities. Writing for the Eighth Circuit, Judge Heaney agreed, holding that once a university opens its facilities for certain groups, it must keep them open for all groups. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari, and in Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981) affirmed this ruling.In Brenden v. Independent School District No. 742, 477 F.2d 1292, 1300 (8th Cir. 1973), two female students who requested to participate in non-contact sports at schools that offered no varsity teams for females brought an action claiming that a state high school league rule prohibiting females from participating with males in interscholastic sports violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Writing for the Court, Judge Heaney found the rule unconstitutional, holding that the activities were non-contact and the females displayed the ability to compete with males.
In U.S. v. City of Black Jack, Missouri, 508 F.2d 1179 (8th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1042 (1975), the Eighth Circuit became one of the first U.S. Courts of Appeals to decide what standards should apply to challenges under the Civil Rights Act of 1968
Civil Rights Act of 1968
On April 11, 1968 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 is commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68, and was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964...
, otherwise known as the Fair Housing Act, to zoning decisions that allegedly had a disproportionate impact on the ability of residents of segregated communities to move to desegregated communities. Writing for the court, Judge Heaney found that the City’s actions violated the Act because of its disparate impact on the ability of minority group residents of St. Louis to relocate to suburban Black Jack, and because Black Jack’s justification did not satisfy a rigorous standard. The Supreme Court declined to review the case, and for many years Judge Heaney’s analysis was cited approvingly by other federal courts interpreting the Act.
In Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Delaware v. Kassel, 612 F.2d 1064 (8th Cir. 1979), aff’d, 450 U.S. 662 (1981), Iowa’s prohibition of extra-long semitrailer trucks was alleged to unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce, in violation of what is known as the dormant Commerce Clause. the court upheld the claim and struck down the requirement. In the court’s opinion, Judge Heaney reasoned that, while “some burdening of interstate commerce will be tolerated” for the sake of safety, The Iowa regulation failed because it burdened interstate commerce and failed to directly protect a state safety interest. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this ruling.
Later activities
Gerald and Eleanor Heaney continued to live in Duluth, where he worked to raise money for scholarships for students attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Free again to become involved in partisan politics, in late 2006 he volunteered at local DFL Party campaign offices, and in March 2007 endorsed John Edwards' bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president. In the Fall of 2007 he served as co-chair of Don NessDon Ness
Don Ness is an American politician from Duluth, Minnesota, and the current mayor of that city. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.-Early life and education:...
's successful campaign for mayor of Duluth.