Damon Jerome Keith

American judge (1922–2019)

Damon Jerome Keith (July 4, 1922 – April 28, 2019) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan .

Education and career

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damon_Keith&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Education and career")
]

Keith was born and grew up in Detroit , Michigan , where he graduated from Northwestern High School in 1939. Keith attended West Virginia State College where he was the first in his family to attend college and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946. He then attended Howard University School of Law where he received a Bachelor of Laws in 1949, and Wayne State University Law School where he received a Master of Laws in 1956. He was in the private practice of law in Detroit from 1950 to 1967. He was an attorney in the Office of the Friend of the Court in Detroit from 1951 to 1955. In 1964 Keith was elected co-chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission with John Feikens and was a key player in the tumultuous times following the Detroit race riots .

Personal

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damon_Keith&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Personal")
]

Keith married Rachel Boone in 1953 and they had three daughters. Rachel died on January 4, 2007. Keith died on April 28, 2019, at his home in Detroit, at the age of 96. The cause was complications from leukemia and cardiovascular disease .

Federal judicial service

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damon_Keith&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: Federal judicial service")
]

At the suggestion of United States Senator Philip Hart , Keith was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 25, 1967, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan vacated by Judge Thomas Patrick Thornton . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 12, 1967, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1975 to 1977. His service was terminated on November 22, 1977, due to his elevation to the Sixth Circuit.

Keith was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on September 28, 1977, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated by Judge Wade H. McCree . He was confirmed by the Senate on October 20, 1977, and received his commission on October 21, 1977. He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1975 to 1978. He assumed senior status on May 1, 1995 and served until his death in 2019.

Memberships and honors

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damon_Keith&action=edit&section=4 "Edit section: Memberships and honors")
]

In 1974, Keith was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP . Keith is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 2008, Keith received an honorary doctorate in law (Legum Doctor) from Harvard University .

Notable cases

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damon_Keith&action=edit&section=5 "Edit section: Notable cases")
]

Keith in February 2018

In United States v. Sinclair (1971), Keith famously ruled that Nixon's Attorney General John N. Mitchell had to disclose the transcripts of illegal wiretaps that Mitchell had authorized without first obtaining a search warrant . Keith's decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court . The Supreme Court's landmark decision in _United States v. U.S. District Court _ (1972) (also known as "the Keith case") contributed in 1978 to president Jimmy Carter signing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That decision is commemorated as a "Michigan Legal Milestone" called "the Uninvited Ear" and erected by the State Bar of Michigan .

In _Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft _ (2002), Keith, writing for a unanimous panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals , found that absolute closure of deportation hearings in "special interest" cases was unconstitutional. Under the authorization of Attorney General John Ashcroft , Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy told all immigration judges to close to the public and media all hearings associated with immigration that were thought to be related to September 11 investigation. These ca

…

Judicial Career

Biography