[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       TRIBUTE TO DAMON J. KEITH

 Mr. PETERS. Mr. President today, I wish to recognize a 
crusader and legal titan, the Honorable Damon J. Keith of Detroit, MI, 
for his legendary 50-year career as a Federal judge.
  Judge Keith's career in public service began during World War II, 
when he served in a segregated military where he faced discrimination 
as he served his Nation. The injustice he experienced led him to 
dedicate his life to equality for all Americans.
  Judge Keith received his law degree from the prestigious Howard 
University. His professor and mentor was none other than the Honorable 
Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of 
Education and the first African-American Justice to serve on the U.S. 
Supreme Court. Just like his mentor, Judge Keith would go on to make 
groundbreaking rulings.
  While African-American citizens in the South suffered through the 
institutionalized practices of segregation, Michigan was not immune 
from racial discrimination. After his 1970 decision in Davis v. School 
District of Pontiac, allowing busing to help integrate schools, Judge 
Keith faced threats of violence from the Ku Klux Klan. Despite threats 
placed against his own life, Judge Keith stood firm. Judge Keith 
continued his fight for civil rights in 1971 when he found that the 
city of Hamtramck practiced discriminatory community development which 
largely displaced African American residents. He ordered the city to 
replace the homes that were demolished. After the civil unrest in 
Detroit in 1967, actions were taken to improve racial inequality in the 
city. African-Americans accounted for one-third of Detroit's population 
but were underrepresented in its government and police force. Judge 
Keith ruled to uphold the city of Detroit's affirmative action plan and 
its good faith effort to promote diversity in its police force.
  Judge Keith heard cases that presented new questions and challenged 
long-held interpretations of the Constitution. In the 1971 landmark 
case, United States v. United States District Court, widely known as 
the Keith Case, the Supreme Court upheld Judge Keith's ruling that the 
Nixon administration could not wiretap citizens without a court order, 
even in cases involving domestic terrorism. This ruling protected 
Fourth Amendment rights for all Americans and enforced the boundaries 
of warrantless surveillance, paving the way for the U.S. Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, of 1978, which provides judicial 
and congressional oversight of the government's foreign intelligence 
surveillance activities.
  After the tragedy of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, and 
the subsequent war on terror, we once again faced circumstances that 
tested the balance between the power of the government and fundamental 
civil liberties. Judge Keith found himself ruling against another 
administration in the 2002 case, Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft. 
Attorney General John Ashcroft and Chief Immigration Judge Michael 
Creppy directed that hearings regarding immigration and deportation 
cases, deemed to be of interest to the investigation of the September 
11, 2001, attacks, be closed to the public. When this case came before 
Judge Keith, he affirmed that the directive was unconstitutional and 
that deportations should not be shrouded in secrecy, famously 
proclaiming that, ``Democracies die behind closed doors.''
  It is my pleasure to recognize the Honorable Damon J. Keith for his 
incredible half century on the bench and as one of the most influential 
jurists in American history. Judge Keith has a heart of gold and a will 
of steel, showing great courage in the face of danger and injustice. In 
his relentless pursuit of equality and justice, he has garnered many 
honors and admirers. In his life, Judge Keith not only witnessed some 
of the most critical moments in this Nation's history, but he has also 
contributed immensely to making America a better and more fair place. I 
ask my fellow colleagues to join me in thanking the Honorable Damon J. 
Keith for safeguarding the bedrock of our society the U.S. 
Constitution.

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