Damon Jerome Keith (July 4, 1922 – April 28, 2019) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of ...

and a former United States District Judge of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the United States district court, federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State o ...

. Keith died in office at age 96.

Education and career

Keith was born and grew up in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, where he graduated from Northwestern High School in 1939. Keith then moved on to

West Virginia State College West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1943. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1943 to 1946. He then attended

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

where he received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1949, and

Wayne State University Law School Wayne State University Law School (Wayne Law) is the law school of Wayne State University in Detroit. Wayne Law is located in Midtown, Detroit's Cultural Center. Founded in 1927, the law school offers juris doctor (J.D.), master of laws (LL.M.), ...

where he received a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in 1956. He was in the private practice of law in Detroit from 1950 to 1967. He was an attorney in the Office of the Friend of the Court in Detroit from 1951 to 1955. In 1964 Keith was elected co-chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission with

John Feikens John Feikens (December 3, 1917 – May 15, 2011) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Education and career Born December 3, 1917, in Clifton, New Jersey, Feikens received a ...

and was a key player in the tumultuous times following the Detroit race riots.

Personal

Keith married Rachel Boone in 1953 and they had three daughters. Rachel died on January 4, 2007. Keith died on April 28, 2019 at his home in Detroit, at the age of 96. The cause was complications from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

and

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

Federal judicial service

At the suggestion of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Philip Hart Philip Aloysius Hart (December 10, 1912December 26, 1976) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until his death from cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1976. He was known as t ...

, Keith was nominated by President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

on September 25, 1967, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Thomas Patrick Thornton. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on October 12, 1967, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1975 to 1977. His service was terminated on November 22, 1977, due to his elevation to the Sixth Circuit. Keith was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

on September 28, 1977, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Wade H. McCree. He was confirmed by the Senate on October 20, 1977, and received his commission on October 21, 1977. He was a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

from 1975 to 1978. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on May 1, 1995.

Memberships and honors

In 1974, Keith was awarded the

Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May ...

from the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. Keith is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. In 2008, Keith received an honorary doctorate in law (Legum Doctor) from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Notable cases

In ''United States v. Sinclair'' (1971), Keith famously ruled that Nixon's Attorney General John N. Mitchell had to disclose the transcripts of illegal

wiretaps Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol s ...

that Mitchell had authorized without first obtaining a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

. Keith's decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's landmark decision in '' United States v. U.S. District Court'' (1972) (also known as "the Keith case") contributed in 1978 to

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

signing the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign po ...

(FISA). That decision is commemorated as a "Michigan Legal Milestone" called "the Uninvited Ear" and erected by the

State Bar of Michigan The State Bar of Michigan is the governing body for lawyers in the State of Michigan. Membership is mandatory for attorneys who practice law in Michigan. The organization's mission is to aid in promoting improvements in the administration of jus ...

. In '' Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft'' (2002), Keith, writing for a unanimous panel of the

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

, found that absolute closure of deportation hearings in "special interest" cases was unconstitutional. Under the authorization of Attorney General

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

, Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy told all

immigration judge An immigration judge, formerly known as a special inquiry officer, is an employee of the United States Department of Justice who confers U.S. citizenship or nationality upon lawful permanent residents who are statutorily entitled to such benefits. ...

s to close to the public and media all hearings associated with immigration that were thought to be related to September 11 investigation. These cases were advised to be handled in seclusion, "closed off from the public", and were held in special interest of national security. Officials terminated

public records Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the optio ...

of the case and removed them from the court's

docket Docket may refer to: *Docket (court), the official schedule of proceedings in lawsuits pending in a court of law. *Agenda (meeting) or docket, a list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up *Receipt or tax invoice, a pr ...

. This rule of closed deportation hearings became known as the "Creppy directive". Members of the press and public filed two of the cases challenging the Government's closure of removal proceedings. The plaintiffs in those cases are (1) the Detroit Free Press, Inc. and Herald Co., Inc. (d/b/a the ''

Ann Arbor News ''The Ann Arbor News'' is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan. Published daily online through MLive.com, the paper also publishes print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. History Original publication Published in ...

'') (the "free press plaintiffs") and (2) the Detroit News, Inc., Congressman John Conyers, Jr., and Metro Times, Inc. (the "''Detroit News'' plaintiffs"); the two are collectively the "newspaper plaintiffs". The third case, filed by the ACLU of Michigan representing Rabih Haddad ("Haddad"), one of the men against whom the government had instituted removal proceedings stated that Haddad, a native of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, resided in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, off and on since 1988. Haddadd came to the United States in 1998 on six-month tourist visas. On December 14, 2001, the United States

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...

("INS") took Haddad into custody for overstaying his visa and initiated removal proceedings in Detroit before Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker.

Prominent clerks

Keith has been called a father-figure to former

Michigan governor The governor of Michigan, is the head of government of Michigan and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws; the power to either approve or veto appropriation bills passed b ...

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...

, who previously clerked for him. He administered the oath of office to her in both 2003 and 2007. Former law clerks also include: *

Lani Guinier Carol Lani Guinier (; April 19, 1950 – January 7, 2022) was an American educator, legal scholar, and civil rights theorist. She was the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured p ...

, the first African-American woman to gain tenure at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

* Judge Eric L. Clay, who later served with Judge Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit *

Ronald Machen Ronald C. Machen Jr. (born May 6, 1969) is the former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. In April 2015, he left the position and returned to the law firm WilmerHale after the longest tenure as US Attorney for the District of C ...

, the former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

* David C. Simmons, the current Chief Administrative Law Judge of the District of Columbia Commission on Human Rights, professor of law at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

, and former Athletic Director of

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

* Constance L. Rice, prominent

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and co-founder of the

Advancement Project The Advancement Project is a politically liberal American nonprofit organization that focuses on racial justice issues. The organization has a national office in Washington, D.C., as well as a California-specific office based in Los Angeles. Org ...

Rashad Hussain Rashad Hussain is an American attorney, diplomat, and professor, who currently serves as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He previously served as associate White House counsel, as U.S. Special Envoy of ...

, Deputy Associate Counsel to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, and the U.S. representative to the

Organisation of the Islamic Conference An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived fro ...

* Jocelyn F. Benson,

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is administered by the Secretary of State, who is elected on a partisan ballot for a term of four years in gubernatorial elections. The Secretary of State is the third-highest official in the State of Michigan. A ...

and former dean of

Daniel Abebe Daniel Y. Abebe is an American lawyer and law professor. Abebe is Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of Law and Deputy Dean of the University of Chicago Law School and a Vice Provost of the University of Chicago. His research focuses on fore ...

, Deputy Dean of the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

and professor of law.

Legacy

Keith donated his personal papers to the

Walter P. Reuther Library The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, located on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, contains millions of primary source documents related to the labor history of the United States, urban affai ...

in 1994. The materials come from milestones in his career, including his precedent-setting judicial decisions, his commitment to equality for all in the American justice system, and the many forms of recognition he received for his dedication to civil rights and

. His estate made a $100,000 bequest to a scholarship fund in his name at

West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

. "Walk with Me: The Trials of Damon J. Keith," directed by Jesse Nesser, tells the story of Keith's life. It made its world premiere at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival in 2016.

References

External links

*
Damon Keith Papers
at the

*
Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft
'

Judge Damon J. Keith to Inaugurate University of Richmond Law School's Judges in Residency Program
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Damon Jerome 1922 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American judges African-American judges Howard University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Lawyers from Detroit Military personnel from Detroit Spingarn Medal winners United States court of appeals judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson Wayne State University Law School alumni West Virginia State University alumni Northwestern High School (Michigan) alumni United States Army personnel of World War II

Education and career

Personal

Federal judicial service

Memberships and honors

Notable cases

Prominent clerks

Legacy

See also

References

External links