He was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida from 1931 to 1934.
[1] Lieb received a recess appointment from President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 13, 1955, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida vacated by Judge John W. Holland.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 1, 1956, and received his commission the next day.
Lieb was reassigned by operation of law to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on October 29, 1962, to a new seat authorized by 76 Stat.
[citation needed] He scrupulously followed the lead of higher federal courts when school desegregation cases began to come his way in the middle 1960s, even though his decisions were sometimes at odds with his own conservative leanings.