[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 99 (Thursday, June 28, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE SERVICE OF JUDGE DAMON J. KEITH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2012

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the career and service to 
the United States of Judge Damon J. Keith on the occasion of his 90th 
birthday.
  Since joining the federal judiciary, Judge Keith has steadfastly and 
courageously protected the constitutional and civil rights of this 
country's citizens.
  In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Keith to the U.S. 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, making him only 
the second African-American to sit on that court at that time. During 
his tenure on the District Court, Judge Keith delivered several key 
civil rights rulings. He addressed the issue of school desegregation in 
Davis v. School District of the City of Pontiac in 1970; of employment 
discrimination and affirmative action in Stamps v. Detroit Edison Co., 
in 1973 and Baker v. City of Detroit in 1979; and finally, of housing 
discrimination in Garrett v. City of Hamtramck in 1971 and Zuch v. 
Hussey in 1975. Judge Keith became Chief Judge of the Eastern District 
of Michigan in 1975.
  In 1971, Judge Keith issued a landmark civil liberties ruling in U.S. 
v. Sinclair, which came to be known as the ``Keith decision.'' Later 
unanimously upheld by the United States Supreme Court, Judge Keith's 
decision held unconstitutional wiretap surveillance absent a court 
order in domestic security cases.
  Judge Keith continued to safeguard constitutional rights and civil 
liberties on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 
where he has served since his appointment in 1977 by President James E. 
Carter. In the 1980s, Judge Keith served as chair of Sixth Circuit and 
Judicial Conference Committees commemorating the Bicentennial of the 
Constitution. He took senior status in 1995.
  Judge Keith was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 4, 1922 and became 
the first member of his family to attend college, earning a bachelor's 
degree from West Virginia State College. After serving our Nation for 
three years in the U.S. Army, he went on to receive an LL.B. from 
Howard University Law School and an LL.M. in labor law from Wayne State 
University Law School.
  Judge Keith started his legal career with the African-American 
Detroit law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper & Colden and was one of six 
Detroit attorneys invited to the White House in 1963 by President John 
F. Kennedy to discuss the role of lawyers in the civil rights struggle. 
Later, Judge Keith and four other African-American attorneys 
established a law firm in what had previously been the all-white legal 
district of downtown Detroit. At this time, Judge Keith also served as 
Chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and President of the 
Detroit Housing Commission.
  Throughout his distinguished career, Judge Keith has received 
numerous honors and awards, including: the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People's highest award, the Spingarn Medal, in 
1974; the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award in 1997; 
and, the Edward J. Devitt Award for Distinguished Service to Justice in 
1998, presented by a panel comprised of a United States Supreme Court 
Justice, a federal circuit court judge, and a federal district court 
judge.
  Judge Keith also holds honorary degrees from Harvard University, Yale 
University, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan, Tuskegee 
University, and over thirty other institutions.
  In addition, Judge Keith has played an active role in numerous civic, 
cultural, and educational organizations, including the Detroit YMCA, 
the Detroit Arts Commission, the Detroit Cotillion Club, and 
Interlochen Arts Academy, and has served as an active fundraiser for 
the United Negro College Fund and the Detroit NAACP.
  For fifty-three years, Judge Keith was married to the late Rachel 
Boone Keith, M.D., with whom he had three daughters, Gilda, Debbie, and 
Cecile.
  For his consistent defense of the Constitution and the civil rights 
of all people, on his 90th birthday, I honor and thank Judge Keith for 
his invaluable service to the United States.

                          ____________________