[国会记录卷163，第122（星期三，2017年7月19日）] [备注的扩展] [页数E1019-E1020]评委DAMON J. KEITH ______ HON表彰该服务。JOHN CONYERS，在代表周三，2017年7月19日CONYERS先生的房子密歇根小。议长先生，我升到认识一个伟大的公仆和灿烂的法学家，法官达蒙J.基思。在他50年的联邦板凳上，基思法官却坚决而勇敢地保护所有美国人的宪法和公民权利，而且我很高兴他今晚将在一个特殊的事件在最高法院荣幸庆祝他的杰出的职业生涯，他的服务于美国。基思法官生于七月四日于1922年从很小的时候，他站出来作为一个学者和运动员。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. ____________________