[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 74 (Monday, May 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2640-S2641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING DAMON J. KEITH

 Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to 
the Honorable Damon J. Keith, a civil rights icon and one of the 
greatest jurists in our Nation's history.
  Judge Keith was born on July 4, 1922, in Detroit, to parents who had 
relocated from Atlanta so his father could work for $5 a day in a Ford 
Motor Company plant to create a better future for their family.
  Judge Keith's father encouraged him to attend college, and he went on 
to graduate from West Virginia State College, a historically Black 
college and university, in 1943. Upon graduation, he served his country 
in a segregated Army unit during World War II.
  After his military service, he received his J.D. from Howard 
University Law School in 1949, passed the Michigan bar in 1950, married 
Dr. Rachel Boone in 1953, and received his master of laws degree from 
Wayne State University School of Law in 1956.
  It was during his time at Howard when Judge Keith found a mentor in 
future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

[[Page S2641]]

  Justice Marshall told Judge Keith to ``use the law as a means for 
social change.'' That is precisely what Judge Keith did throughout the 
Civil Rights movement, standing up for justice and equal rights for all 
citizens.
  He spent more than 20 years in private practice in Detroit. He served 
as a cochair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission with John Feikens 
in 1964 and helped heal the community during and after the Detroit 
Uprising of 1967.
  That same year, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated him to the U.S. 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge Keith, a 
grandson of slaves, would go on to serve more than 50 years on the 
Federal bench, becoming the longest serving Black judge in the nation.
  Judge Keith gained national prominence for his ruling against 
President Nixon's Attorney General John N. Mitchell in the United 
States v. Sinclair case. Judge Keith's decision was later upheld by the 
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. It 
is now seen as a landmark decision upholding our Fourth Amendment right 
against unreasonable searches and seizures.
  In 1971, Judge Keith ordered that Pontiac, MI, develop a new school 
bus policy to help integrate its schools. Shortly before the order took 
effect, five Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed 10 Pontiac school buses and 
threatened Judge Keith's life.
  But Judge Keith persisted, ruling in 1975 that the town of Hamtramck 
must provide new, affordable housing for 500 African Americans after 
they were displaced by federally supported urban renewal projects. He 
served as chief judge from 1975 through 1977.
  While serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 
Judge Keith ruled against another President, this time President George 
W. Bush's secret deportation hearings after 9/11.
  Writing for a unanimous panel of judges, he coined the memorable 
phrase ``democracies die behind closed doors,'' which inspired the 
Washington Post's motto: ``Democracy Dies in Darkness.''
  He remained active into his 90s. He issued a blistering dissent in a 
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voting rights case in 2016, in which the 
majority upheld extremely strict voting requirements in Ohio.
  Above all, he was a patriot who deeply loved this country. One of his 
proudest roles was serving as the national chairman of the Commission 
on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, when he led efforts to 
promote the document our nation was built upon.
  Over the years, he mentored countless lawyers, including Michigan's 
Secretary of State Jocelyn F. Benson, circuit court Judge Eric L. Clay, 
and Lani Guinier, the first African-American woman to gain tenure at 
Harvard Law School.
  Guinier, who served as Judge Keith's law clerk, once said this: 
``Judge Keith has been my second father, someone who presided at my 
wedding, stood by me during some of the most difficult professional 
challenges of my life, and guided me with his wisdom,'' she said. ``And 
I am far from alone.''
  Professor Guinier is right. With Judge Keith on their side, the 
people of Michigan were never alone. We knew that we had someone 
fighting for us and for justice for all. He used the law as a means for 
social change, and I think Justice Marshall would be very proud.
  My deepest condolences go to his three daughters, Debbie Keith, Gilda 
Keith, and Cecile Keith Brown, his two granddaughters, and his many 
friends.

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