John Feikens (December 3, 1917 – May 15, 2011) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

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 federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State of Michigan. The Court is based ...

Education and career

Born December 3, 1917, in Clifton,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, Feikens 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 year ...

degree in 1939 from Calvin College and a Juris Doctor in 1941 from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

. He worked for the priorities and war allocations department of the Detrex Corporation 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 t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

from 1942 to 1946. He was in private practice in Detroit from 1946 to 1960 and from 1961 to 1970.

Federal judicial service

Feikens received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the a ...

from President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

on October 13, 1960, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Clifford Patrick O`Sullivan. He was nominated to the same position by President Eisenhower on January 10, 1961. His service was terminated on September 27, 1961, after his nomination was not 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 ...

. A previous nomination by President Eisenhower on June 10, 1960, expired without action by the Senate, prior to his recess appointment. Feikens was nominated by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on October 7, 1970, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, to a new seat authorized by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 25, 1970, and received his commission on December 1, 1970. He served as Chief Judge from 1979 to 1986. He assumed

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

on March 1, 1986. His service terminated on May 15, 2011, due to his death in

Grosse Pointe Park Grosse Pointe Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,555 at the 2010 census. Bordering on Detroit with frontage on southern Lake St. Clair, it is the southernmost of the Grosse Pointe suburbs. Gro ...

, Michigan.

Professional associations, civic and other activities

* Director of the Detroit Bar Association (1962–1967), president 1967; trustee to the Detroit Bar Association Foundation * Member of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

* State Bar of Michigan Commissioner (1965–1971) * Member of Fellow American College of Trial Lawyers * Director of the Economic Club of Detroit * Co-Chairman, Michigan Civil Rights Commission, (1964–1968) * Board of Trustees, New Detroit, Inc. (1968–1970) * Board of Trustees, Calvin College (1968–1974) * University of Michigan Club * Committee of Visitors,

* Director, Economic Club of Detroit

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard

at the Eastern District of Michigan {{DEFAULTSORT:Feikens, John 1917 births 2011 deaths Calvin University alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Michigan Republican Party chairs Lawyers from Detroit Politicians from Clifton, New Jersey People from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower 20th-century American judges United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon Unsuccessful recess appointments to United States federal courts Deaths from respiratory failure