S. Arthur Spiegel (October 24, 1920 – December 31, 2014) was 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 Southern District of Ohio The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (in case citations, S.D. Ohio) is one of two United States district courts in Ohio and includes forty-eight of the state's eighty-eight counties–everything from the Columbus are ...

Education and career

Born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, Spiegel 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 Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

in 1942. He enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, serving in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

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 ...

from 1942 to 1946 and achieving the rank of captain. He received a

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 1948 and was in private practice in Cincinnati from 1948 to 1980.

Federal judicial service

On April 14, 1980, Spiegel was nominated by 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 ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

David Stewart Porter David Stewart Porter (September 23, 1909 – January 5, 1989) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Education and career Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Porter received an Artium Ba ...

. Spiegel 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 May 21, 1980, and received his commission on May 23, 1980. 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 5, 1995. In April 2005 a federal prison inmate named Tony Erpenbeck was indicted on federal charges that he had made attempts to have Spiegel and a prosecutor murdered. Spiegel had previously sentenced Erpenbeck to prison for obstruction of justice.

Personal

Spiegel wrote a book titled ''A Trial On Its Merits'', which was published in 2009, and he continued to hear cases until shortly before his death. Spiegel died on December 31, 2014, in Cincinnati. He and his wife had four sons.

References

Sources

* 1920 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Lawyers from Cincinnati United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II University of Cincinnati alumni Writers from Cincinnati {{US-federal-judge-stub