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Colleagues
praise
Judge
Damon
Keith on
90th
Birthday
celebration
By
Laydell
Wood
Harper/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
Nearly
30
Judges
from
courtrooms
across
the
state
attended
the
special
90th
Birthday
Celebration
Service
for
Judge
Damon J.
Keith,
United
States
Court of
Appeals
for the
Sixth
Circuit
Court at
Hartford
Memorial
Baptist
Church.
Rev. Dr.
Charles
G. Adams
preached
a
special
sermon
that
many who
attended
will not
soon
forget.
“We
didn’t
ask him
to be a
Black
Judge,”
Dr.
Adams
began.
“We
asked
him to
be a
Good
Judge…….Without
Damon
Keith
there
would be
no
Obama.”
The
congregation
stood
and
applauded
loudly.
“We
honor
you
today
for your
diligence,
courage
and
life.
Judge
Keith
has
strengthened
our
democracy,
expanded
our
rights
and
affirmed
our
people,
particularly
those
who
suffered
any form
of
exclusion
of
mistreatment.”
In the
United
States
v.
Sinclair,
commonly
referred
to as
the
Keith
Decision,
the
Supreme
Court
unanimously
affirmed
Judge
Keith's
landmark
ruling
prohibiting
President
Nixon
and the
federal
government
from
engaging
in
warrantless
wiretapping
in
violation
of the
Fourth
Amendment.
Hartford
Church
was
nearly
filled
to
capacity
including
a few
special
guests;
former
law
partner
Nate
Conyers,
former
Detroit
Tiger
Willie
Horton,
U.S.
Rep.
John
Conyers,
and
Michigan
Chronicle
editor
Bankole
Thompson.
As Dr.
Adams
completed
his
sermon
entitled,
“Blessed
is This
Man.”
Judge
Keith
approached
the
podium
but not
without
giving
his
long-time
friend a
hug and
thanking
him for
the
wonderful
birthday
celebration.
As he
addressed
the
crowd,
the
Judge
told
some
very
funny
stories,
and some
very
serious
stories
and at
one
point he
became
emotional.
He
introduced
former
Detroit
Tiger
Willie
Horton
who
stood as
he was
acknowledged.
Judge
Keith’s
Willie
Horton
story
was the
funny
story;
“My wife
Rachel
and I
had a
special
room in
our
house
that we
called
the
Willie
Horton
Room.
Every
time
Willie
would
get in
trouble
they
would
call me
and say,
come get
Willie.
I would
go get
Willie
and put
him in
the
Willie
Horton
Room for
the
night so
he would
be ready
to play
ball the
next
day.”
Judge
Keith
continued,
“When I
finished
law
school
there
were no
judges
of
color.
G.
Mennen
Williams
appointed
the
first
black
Judge,
Charles
W. Jones
to
Recorders
Court.
Wade H.
McCree
was the
second.
Because
his name
sounded
Irish we
took his
green
and
white
signs
(without
a
picture)
to
Dearborn
and
other
suburbs
to get
their
vote. We
had
another
sign we
used in
the
Black
neighborhoods
with his
picture.
And,
that’s
how he
got
elected.”
As he
concluded,
Judge
Damon J.
Keith
spoke
directly
to the
four
front
rows
filled
with
judges
all
dressed
in black
robes;
“Judges,”
he said,
“You’re
walking
on
ground
you did
not
scrub.
You’re
walking
through
doors
you did
not
open. I
want you
to
continue
to scrub
the
floors
for
those
who
follow
you. I
want you
to open
some
doors so
that
others
can go
through
them.
You’ve
got to
leave
footprints.
We fight
for
equal
justice
under
the
law.”
The
Honorable
Damon J.
Keith
was most
recently
named
Senior
Judge
for the
United
States
Court of
Appeals
for the
Sixth
Circuit.
In 2010
he was
inducted
into the
International
Civil
Rights
Walk of
Fame in
Atlanta.
And in
2011,
the
Damon J.
Keith
Center
for
Civil
Rights
opened
at Wayne
State
University
Law
School.
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