{{Short description|American judge (1920–2007)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = The Honorable |name = Nathan Heffernan |image = Nathan S. Heffernan (Wisconsin Supreme Court justice) portrait, circa 1965.jpg |caption = portrait photograph, circa 1965 |order = 23rd |title = Chief Justice of the {{nowrap|Wisconsin Supreme Court}} | term_start = August 1, 1983 | term_end = July 31, 1995 | predecessor = Bruce F. Beilfuss | successor = Roland B. Day |office1 = Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court | appointer1 = John W. Reynolds, Jr. | term_start1 = August 17, 1964 | term_end1 = July 31, 1995 | predecessor1 = William H. Dieterich | successor1 = Ann Walsh Bradley |office2 = United States Attorney for the {{nowrap|Western District of Wisconsin}} | president2 = John F. Kennedy<br />Lyndon B. Johnson | term_start2 = 1962 | term_end2 = 1964 | predecessor2 = George E. Rapp | successor2 = Michael J. Wyngaard | office3 = City Attorney of Sheboygan | term_start3 = 1953 | term_end3 = 1959 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = |birth_name = Nathan Stewart Heffernan |birth_date = {{birth date|1920|8|6}} |birth_place = Frederic, Wisconsin, U.S |death_date = {{death date and age|2007|4|13|1920|8|6}} |death_place = Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |resting_place = Forest Hill Cemetery<br />Madison, Wisconsin |spouse = Dorothy Lucile Hillemann |children = 3 |alma_mater = University of Wisconsin<br>Harvard Business School<br>Wisconsin Law School }}

'''Nathan Stewart Heffernan''' (August 6, 1920 – April 13, 2007) was an American lawyer and judge. He was the 23rd Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1983 to 1995. Earlier in his career he served as United States Attorney for the {{nowrap|Western District of Wisconsin}}.

== Early life and education == Heffernan was born on August 6, 1920 in Frederic, Wisconsin.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He attended school in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, graduating from Sheboygan High School.<ref name=":0" /> In 1942, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2"> [https://wicourts.gov/courts/supreme/docs/portraitsofjustice.pdf Portraits of Justice: The Wisconsin Supreme Court's First 150 Years]</ref> Heffernan served in the Navy during World War II, and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He then graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1948.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== Career == Heffernan worked in a private law practice in Sheboygan at the firm of Buchen & Heffernan from 1948 to 1959.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> During this time he served as the Assistant District Attorney for Sheboygan County from 1951 to 1953,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> and as the City Attorney of Sheboygan from 1953 to 1959.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Candidates and Issues |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/83984195 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |publisher=The Waukesha County Freeman |agency=United Press |access-date=April 10, 2026 |page=3 |date=March 31, 1975}}</ref> At that time, Heffernan resigned his duties from his law firm and became Deputy Attorney General of Wisconsin, and remained in that position until 1962 when he was appointed as a United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin by President John F. Kennedy.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In 1964, Wisconsin Governor John W. Reynolds appointed Heffernan to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Heffernan won election to the seat in 1965, and was re-elected in 1975 and 1985. He became Chief Justice of that court in 1983, and retired in 1995.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The 31 years that Heffernan spent on the Supreme Court make him the third longest-serving judge in Wisconsin history.<ref name=":2" /> Heffernan was considered to be a member of the court's ideologically liberal wing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pommer |first1=Matt |title=Callow Tops Landry for Supreme Court |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/519291984 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |publisher=The Capital Times |access-date=April 16, 2026 |page=2 |date=April 6, 1977}}</ref>

Heffernan taught summer courses on appellate administration and opinion writing at New York University School of Law and was an adjunct professor of appellate practice and procedure at the University of Wisconsin Law School for fifteen years.<ref name=":1">[https://www.wicourts.gov/courts/supreme/justices/retired/heffernan.htm Nathan Heffernan]. Wisconsin Supreme Court. Accessed March 25, 2026.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-08-08 |title=Heffernan, Nathan S. 1920 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS8613 |access-date=2026-03-26 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life== Heffernan married Dorothy Hillemann.<ref name=":1" /> They had three children: Katie, Michael, and Thomas.<ref name=":2" />

Heffernan died on April 13, 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin.<ref name=":1" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before = George E. Rapp }} {{s-ttl|title = United States Attorney for the {{nowrap|Western District of Wisconsin}}|years=1962&ndash;1964|appointer= John F. Kennedy}} {{s-aft|after = Michael J. Wyngaard}} {{s-bef|before = William H. Dieterich}} {{s-ttl|title = Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court|years=1964&ndash;1995}} {{s-aft|after = Ann Walsh Bradley}} {{s-bef|before = Bruce F. Beilfuss}} {{s-ttl|title = Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court|years=1983&ndash;1995}} {{s-aft|after = Roland B. Day}} {{s-end}}

{{Chief Justices of Wisconsin}} {{Wisconsin Supreme Court justices navbox|state=collapsed}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffernan, Nathan}} Category:1920 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from Frederic, Wisconsin Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:University of Wisconsin Law School alumni Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Chief justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Category:20th-century Wisconsin state court judges Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)