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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

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 the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State of M ...

Education and career

Born December 3, 1917, in Clifton,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Feikens received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1939 from

Calvin College Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reforme ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1941 from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as 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 Comparati ...

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

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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 the United States, president of a Officer of the United States, federal official when the United States Senate, U.S. Senate is in Recess (motion), recess. Under the ...

from President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

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 a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. 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 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

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

Notable Decisions

''Procter Gamble Co. v. Bankers Trust Co.''

On Wednesday, September 13, 1995, Bankers Trust Co, and Procter and Gamble Co. alerted Judge Feikens that Business Week, a magazine owned by

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

, had obtained documents from ongoing litigation between the two parties. Both Bankers and P&G desired the details to remain secret. That same day, without notice or hearing, Judge Feikens issued an order enjoining and prohibiting McGraw-Hill from publishing the documents without consent of the court. The action rose significant

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

concerns as a rare instance of

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

against the press, a legal issue considered settled in favor of the press in the

Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States' political and militar ...

case of 1971, '' New York Times Company v. United States''. On March 5, 1996, a three-judge panel 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 K ...

ruled 2 to 1 that Feikens had been wrong to bar the publication of an article based on the documents.

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 association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

* 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,

(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 lawyers 21st-century American judges United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon Unsuccessful recess appointments to United States federal courts Deaths from respiratory failure