[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 154 (Thursday, October 31, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S7719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO JUDGE S. ARTHUR SPIEGEL

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a friend and fellow 
Cincinnatian, Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, on the occasion of his 94th 
birthday and would also like to recognize him for his service to our 
community and our Nation.
  On April 5, 1980, Judge Spiegel was appointed as a United States 
District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio by President Jimmy 
Carter. He was confirmed on May 20, 1980 and began his duty on June 5, 
1980.
  With 33 years of Federal judicial service, including as Chief United 
States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Ohio and by 
designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth 
Circuit, he took Senior Status on June 5, 1995. He continues to serve 
on the Court as Cincinnati's oldest sitting judge and continues to 
handle a full docket and hundreds of cases a year.
  Judge Spiegel served his country valiantly in World War II in the 
Pacific campaigns while serving as a flying artillery spotter in an 
unarmed light aircraft. He was a United States Marine Corps Captain 
from 1942 to 1946 in the First Marine Division.
  Judge Spiegel received a BA from the University of Cincinnati in 1942 
and obtained his LL.B. from Harvard University in 1948--postgraduate 
University of Cincinnati, 1949. In addition, he was awarded an Honorary 
Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters by Hebrew Union College, Jewish 
Institute of Religion in 1996 and a Distinguished Alumni Award, College 
of Arts & Sciences from the University of Cincinnati in 1997.
  Judge Spiegel has served as a role model to many lawyers in private 
practice and on the bench. His intelligence and strength of character 
have been revered by many and he has set the highest standards of 
professionalism for those appearing in his courtroom. He was a co-
founder of the Potter Stewart American Inn of Court in Cincinnati, 
which was one of the first establishments of this kind, and serves to 
mentor and teach professionalism and trial techniques to law students 
and young lawyers.
  Judge Spiegel is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio 
Bar Association, the Cincinnati Bar Association and the Federal Bar 
Association. He was a lecturer on labor law, debtor/creditor rights, 
and appellate advocacy at the University of Cincinnati College of Law 
from 1970 through 1975. He was also a Delegate, Sixth Circuit Judicial 
Conference from 1967 through 1970; a Life Member, Sixth Circuit 
Judicial Conference beginning in 1971; and was a District Judge 
Representative for the Sixth Circuit, United States Judicial Conference 
in 1996 and 1997.
  He has served on numerous boards of trustees in his community. He 
served on the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee from 1961 to 1965 
and the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission from 1967 to 1973, 
including serving as its first Chairman from 1965 to 1967. He was also 
a Board Trustee for Bowling Green State University from 1973 to 1981 
and has been a Trustee and Trustee Emeritus for The National Conference 
for Community and Justice since 1973.
  In recent years, Judge Spiegel has served on the Roundtable of the 
Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati, which aims to broaden the 
opportunities in the legal profession for minorities. He regularly 
meets with students of local high schools regarding the role of the 
courts in our society and also conducts naturalization ceremonies in 
the local schools. He received the Award of Recognition from the Black 
Lawyers Association of Cincinnati in 1995.
  A civil rights advocate both on and off the bench, Judge Spiegel 
served as the first Chairman of the Cincinnati Human Relations 
Commission, an organization with the mission of helping the community 
overcome prejudice and discrimination. As an active participant in the 
civil rights movement, Spiegel worked to calm tensions after race riots 
in the late 1960s.
  A true renaissance man, Judge Spiegel is a pilot, painter, tennis 
player, writer, horseback rider and self-taught mechanic.
  He is married to Louise Wachman Spiegel, and they have four sons, 
Thomas, Arthur M., Andrew and Roger, and seven grandchildren.
  Today, I would like to recognize my friend and an Ohio icon and 
commend him for the many contributions he has made to our community and 
to the legal profession.

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