Harris L. Hartz (born 1947) is an American jurist and lawyer who serves as afederal judge on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Hartz was born in 1947 inBaltimore, Maryland. He grew up inFarmington, New Mexico, and graduated from Farmington High School in 1963 asvaledictorian.^[1] He then studiedphysics atHarvard University, graduating in 1967 with anA.B.summa cum laude.

After college, Hartz received a fellowship to pursue graduate study in physics atPrinceton University, but dropped out after one year.^[1] From 1968 to 1969, Hartz worked on the reelection campaign ofU.S. SenatorJacob Javits and as a reporter forThe Record, a newspaper in northernNew Jersey.^[1] Hartz then attendedHarvard Law School, where he was an editor of theHarvard Law Review. He graduated in 1972 with aJuris Doctormagna 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 anassistant United States attorney for theDistrict of New Mexico from 1972 to 1975, and thereafter spent a year as an assistant professor of law atUniversity of Illinois College of Law inChampaign, Illinois. He served on theGovernor 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 theNew Mexico Court of Appeals from 1988 to 1999, during which time he authored approximately 300 opinions.^[2] He then returned to private practice at a law firm, serving as Special Counsel to theInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters, where he worked with the union to develop acode of conduct and an internal system for compliance and enforcement.^[3]

Hartz was nominated to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by PresidentGeorge W. Bush on September 4, 2001 to replace JudgeBobby Baldock, who assumedsenior status. Hartz was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on December 6, 2001, by a 99–0 vote.^[4] He received his commission on December 10, 2001.^[5]

• 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 et al., No. 10-1081 (10th Cir. 2014) – In an unpublished order and judgment written by Judge Hartz, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the lower court's dismissal of a $100 million antitrust case against an energy company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 thatVirginia 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).

• Endrew F. v. Douglas County School Dist. RE–1, 798F.3d 1329 (10th Cir. 2015)^[6] – In a case where parents of Endrew F., a child with autism, appealed a case to the court in an effort to be reimbursed for private school tuition resulting from lack ofFree Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) under theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) given to their child by their school district, the court ruled that Endrew had received "some educational benefit" (as perBoard of Education v. Rowley) and had thus had received FAPE and did not qualify for reimbursement. This case was successfully appealed to the Supreme Court in which the justices found that the way which the 10th Circuit determined if Endrew had received FAPE was wrong, remanding the case back to the lower courts for review.^[7]

• 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 theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.
• U.S. Department of Justice Profile

• 1947 births
• Assistant United States attorneys
• Harvard College alumni
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• Lawyers from Baltimore
• Living people
• New Mexico state court judges
• United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty

• FJC Bio template with ID same as Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata