Leonard I. Garth (April 7, 1921 – September 22, 2016) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...

Education and career

Garth was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and graduated with 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

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1942. He served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

from 1943 to 1946. Upon his return, he received his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1952, and built a private practice in

Paterson Paterson may refer to: People * Paterson (surname) * Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales * Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales *Paterson, Queensland, a lo ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Federal judicial service

On July 22, 1969, Garth was nominated by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Thomas M. Madden Thomas M. Madden (March 28, 1907 – March 29, 1976) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Education and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Madden received a Bachelor of L ...

. Garth was 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 ...

on December 17, 1969, and received his commission on December 18, 1969. His service terminated on August 29, 1973, due to his elevation to the Third Circuit. On July 19, 1973, President Nixon nominated Garth to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge James Rosen. Garth was confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 1973, and received his commission on August 6, 1973. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on June 30, 1986, serving in that status until his death on September 22, 2016.'Rutgers Law Mourns the Passing of Judge Leonard I. Garth,' Rutgers Law, September 23, 2016
/ref> Concurrent with his federal court service, Garth was a lecturer at Rutgers Law School starting in 1978 and at Seton Hall University School of Law starting in 1980.

Notable case

Garth wrote the opinion in ''Sullivan v. Barnett'', 139 F.3d 158 (3d Cir. 1998). This decision was reversed by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in ''American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company v. Sullivan'', 526 U.S. 40 (1999).

Notable clerks

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served ...

clerked for Garth from 1976 to 1977 in his first job out of

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

. Law professors who clerked for Judge Garth include former Co-Dean Ronald Chen of Rutgers Law School,

Orin Kerr Orin Samuel Kerr (born June 2, 1971) is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law."Faculty , UC Berkeley School of Law"Orin Kerr faculty profile/ref> He is known as a scholar in the subjects of computer crim ...

USC Gould School of Law The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated with ...

, Norman I. Silber of Hofstra Law School (and Research Scholar at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

), and Louis Virelli of Stetson Law School.

Harvey Rishikof Harvey Rishikof is an American people, American lawyer who was the Convening Authority for the Guantanamo military commission in 2017 and early 2018. Rishikof was the previous chair of the American Bar Association's American Bar Association Stand ...

is Professor of Law and National Security Studies at the National War College and previously the Dean of Roger Williams University School of Law.

Personal life

In 1942, he married Sarah Kaufman, and they had a daughter.

References

External links

* 1921 births 2016 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey People from Brooklyn People from Paterson, New Jersey Rutgers University faculty Seton Hall University School of Law faculty United States court of appeals judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon United States Army officers {{US-federal-judge-stub