Daniel T. Eismann

Daniel Thomas Eismann (February 15, 1947 – June 4, 2024) was an American lawyer and judge from Idaho. Elected to the Idaho Supreme Court in 2000, he was chief justice from 2007 to 2011, and retired in 2017.

Life and career Born in Eugene, Oregon, while his father attended law school, Eismann was raised in Homedale in Owyhee County, Idaho, and graduated from Vallivue High School near Caldwell in 1965. He attended the University of Idaho in Moscow for two years where he became a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, then enlisted in the U.S. Army.

Eismann served two consecutive tours of duty in Vietnam as a crew chief/door gunner on a Huey gunship helicopter, and was awarded two purple hearts for being wounded in combat and three medals for heroism. After an honorable discharge from the military, he returned to UI to complete his undergraduate degree in sociology and then graduated cum laude from its College of Law in 1976.

Eismann unseated supreme court justice Cathy Silak in the statewide election in May 2000, the only defeat for an incumbent on the court since 1944. Eismann was unopposed for re-election in 2006 and 2012, and retired in August 2017.

Eismann died on June 4, 2024, at the age of 77 at a hospital in the Boise area.