Harold Leventhal (judge)

Harold Leventhal (January 5, 1915 – November 20, 1979) was a United States federal judge.

Leventhal was born in New York City, New York. He received an A.B. from Columbia University in 1934. He received an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1936, where he was editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review. He was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court justices Harlan Fiske Stone (1937-1938) and Stanley Forman Reed (1938). He was an Attorney for the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States from 1937 to 1938 and from 1938 to 1939. He was a Chief of litigation for the Bituminous Coal Division of the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1939 to 1940. He was an Assistant general counsel for the U.S. Office of Price Administration from 1940 to 1943. He was a U.S. Coast Guard Reserve Lieutenant Commander from 1943 to 1946. He served on the staff of Justice Robert H. Jackson during the Nuremberg Trials from 1945 to 1946. He then returned to his position as assistant general counsel for the U.S. Office of Price Administration in 1946. He was in private practice of law in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951, before returning to the U.S. Office of Price Administration as chief counsel from 1951 to 1952. He was in private practice of law in Washington, D.C. from 1952 to 1965.

Leventhal was a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Leventhal was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on March 1, 1965, to a seat vacated by Wilbur K. Miller. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 7, 1965, and received his commission the same day. Leventhal's service was terminated on November 20, 1979, due to death. President Jimmy Carter then appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who now sits on the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy.