Born in Church Hill, Alabama, Arant received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in 1910. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1911, a Master of Arts degree from the same institution in 1913, and a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1915. Arant entered private practice in Atlanta, Georgia from 1915 to 1920. He was a professor of law at the Emory University School of Law from 1916 to 1920, and then the Yale Law School as an assistant professor from 1920 to 1922. He was a professor of law and dean at the University of Kansas School of Law from 1922 to 1928, and then moved to hold the same positions at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law from 1928 to 1939.^[2]

Arant was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 9, 1939, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 52 Stat. 584. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 21, 1939, and received his commission on March 4, 1939. His service terminated on January 14, 1941, due to his death.^[2]

• Herschel Whitfield Arant at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

• Herschel Whitfield Arant, History of the Sixth Circuit