[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 122 (Wednesday, July 19, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1019-E1020]
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

                        Wednesday, July 19, 2017

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a great public servant 
and a brilliant jurist, Judge Damon J. Keith. Throughout his 50 years 
on the federal bench, Judge Keith has steadfastly and courageously 
protected the constitutional and civil rights of all Americans, and I 
am pleased that he will be honored tonight in a special event at the 
Supreme Court celebrating his outstanding career, and his service to 
the United States.
  Judge Keith was born on the Fourth of July in 1922. From an early 
age, he stood out as a scholar and an athlete. He graduated from 
Northwestern High School in Detroit, where he excelled in track and he 
went on to become the first in his family to earn a college degree, 
graduating from West Virginia State College in 1943. After serving in 
the U.S. Army for three years, he continued his education and earned 
his law degree from Howard University Law School in 1949.
  Judge Keith started his legal career in Detroit with the African-
American law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper & Colden, and he 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.
  In 1967, he was appointed to the federal bench by President Lyndon 
Johnson, becoming only the second African-American to sit on the U.S. 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and in 1975, he 
rose to become Chief Judge of that court. During his tenure on the 
District Court, Judge Keith delivered several key civil rights rulings 
on such important issues as school desegregation, employment and 
housing discrimination, and affirmative action.
  In 1971, Judge Keith issued a landmark civil liberties ruling in U.S. 
v. Sinclair, which found wiretap surveillance absent a court order in 
domestic security cases to be unconstitutional. This case came to be 
known as the ``Keith decision'' and it was unanimously upheld by the 
United States Supreme Court. His ruling is also widely acknowledged as 
contributing to passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 
1975, which placed important restrictions on government surveillance of 
Americans.
  In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Keith to the United 
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, where he has served with 
distinction. He took senior status in 1995, but he continues to be a 
vital member

[[Page E1020]]

of that Court. Just last year, his impassioned dissent in a voting 
rights case gained national recognition, as he recounted the ugly 
history of voter suppression in this country, and he stood up for the 
rights of all Americans to have their voices heard at the ballot box.
  Judge Keith is well deserving of the numerous honors and awards he 
has received throughout his career, 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; 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; and honorary degrees from Harvard University, 
Yale University, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan, 
Tuskegee University, and over thirty other institutions.
  Tonight, a distinguished panel that includes former Attorney General 
Eric Holder will bestow one more honor, in recognition of his lifetime 
of service as a defender of the Constitution and the civil rights of 
all people. I am proud to call Judge Keith a mentor, a friend, and an 
inspiration.

                          ____________________