Walter Meheula Heen (born April 17, 1928) is an

American lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He briefly served as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Hawaii The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (in case citations, D. Haw.) is the principal trial court of the United States federal courts, United States Federal Court System in the U.S. state, state of Hawaii. The court's terri ...

and trustee of the

Office of Hawaiian Affairs The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is a self-governing corporate body of the State of Hawaii created by the 1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention. Background In 1893, pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the monarchy and formed the ...

Education and career

Born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

, Heen received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

in 1953. His grandfather, Harry A. Heen, was born Chung Mook-heen in

Qing Dynasty China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

near the

Xi River The Xi River (; ) or Si-Kiang is the western tributary of the Pearl River in southern China. It is formed by the confluence of the Gui and Xun Rivers in Wuzhou, Guangxi. It originates from the eastern foot of the Maxiong Mountain in Qujing ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

and came to what was then the

Hawaiian Kingdom The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the ...

at age 17. He received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 1955. He was in private practice of law in Honolulu from 1955 to 1972. He was a deputy city attorney of Honolulu from 1957 to 1958. He was a Member of the Territorial House of Representatives of Hawaii in 1959. He was a Member of the

Hawaii House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

from 1959 to 1964. He was a Member of the

Hawaii Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the membe ...

from 1966 to 1968. He was a Member of the Honolulu City Council from 1969 to 1972, serving as chairman from 1969 to 1970. He was a Judge of the Hawaii District Court for the First Circuit from 1972 to 1974. He was a Judge of the Hawaii Circuit Court for the First Circuit from 1974 to 1978. He was the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the District of Hawaii from 1978 to 1980.

Federal judicial service

Heen received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the advi ...

from President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

on January 1, 1981, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Dick Yin Wong Dick Yin Wong (September 13, 1920 – December 26, 1978) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Education and career Wong was born on September 13, 1920, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received ...

. He was nominated to the same seat on January 8, 1981. His service was terminated on December 16, 1981, after his nomination was not confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Later service

Heen was an Associate Judge of the

Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals The Hawaii State Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) is the intermediate appellate court of the Hawaii State Judiciary. It has jurisdiction over appeals from lower courts and agencies. The ICA is composed of one chief judge and five associate ju ...

from 1982 to 1994. He was elected in 2006 as a trustee of the

representing

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

. He ran for re-election in November 2010, but lost to Peter Apo.

References

External links

JUDGE WALTER M. HEEN--A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heen, Walter Meheula 1928 births Living people 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American judges People from Honolulu Honolulu City Council members Hawaii state court judges Members of the Hawaii Territorial Legislature Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives Democratic Party Hawaii state senators Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter Unsuccessful recess appointments to United States federal courts University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni United States Attorneys for the District of Hawaii Hawaii people of Chinese descent Asian-American city council members Hawaii politicians of Chinese descent

Education and career

Federal judicial service

Later service

See also

References

External links