Leonard I. Garth

Who is Leonard I. Garth?

Leonard I. Garth is a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Garth was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated with a bachelor of arts from Columbia University in 1942. He served during World War II as a United States Army Lieutenant from 1943 to 1946. Upon his return, he earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1952.

After building a private practice in Paterson, New Jersey, Garth was made a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969, and elevated to the Third Circuit by Nixon in 1973. He assumed senior status in 1986.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito clerked for Garth from 1976 to 1977 in his first job out of law school. As of 2013 Garth holds the distinction of being the only sitting judge for whom a member of the United States Supreme Court has clerked.

Garth had been a lecturer at Rutgers Law School and at Seton Hall Law School.