Charles Leonard Levin (April 28, 1926 – November 19, 2020) was an American judge. He served as a Michigan Court of Appeals judge from 1966 to 1972 and as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1973 to 1996.

Early life and career

He was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1946 and his Bachelor of Laws in 1947 from the University of Michigan Law School. He is a member of the Levin political and legal family of Michigan. When he decided to run for the Michigan Supreme Court, Levin did not feel comfortable running as either a Democratic or Republican nominee. He then formed his own party and nominated himself. He was elected to two additional terms as an independent candidate. During his tenure on the bench, he gained the respect of many colleagues, prompting

U.S. District Court 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 ...

Judge

Avern Cohn Avern Levin Cohn (July 23, 1924 – February 4, 2022) was a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Personal life Cohn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Irwin I. and Sadie L ...

to note, "''Justice Levin has displayed scholarship, pragmatism, insight, honesty, courage, and humanity.''" Levin's father,

Theodore Levin Theodore Levin (February 18, 1897 – December 31, 1970) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Education and career Levin was born on February 18, 1897, in Chicago, Ill ...

, was a federal district court judge. His brother, Joseph Levin, ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 1974. His cousin

Carl Levin Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...

was a U.S. senator for Michigan from 1979 to 2015. His cousin Sander Levin was the U.S. congressman for

Michigan's 9th congressional district Michigan's 9th congressional district is a United States congressional district located in parts of Oakland County and Macomb County in the southeast areas of the State of Michigan. It includes the communities of Ferndale, Royal Oak, Hazel Par ...

from 1983 to 2019. Since 2019, his cousin Andy Levin serves as the U.S. congressman for

. In 1999, Levin was remarried to a former law clerk, Helene White, who has been a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2008. The couple divorced in November 2006. Levin died on November 19, 2020 in Detroit at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Charles 1926 births 2020 deaths Charles Levin Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Jewish American people in Michigan politics Lawyers from Detroit Michigan Court of Appeals judges University of Michigan Law School alumni Michigan Independents 21st-century American Jews