Keith's life and legal career impact and inspire many

Judge Damon Keith's life and legal career reverberates from the landmark cases he has ruled on and in the people, both well-known and little-known, who he has touched and inspired.

"It's unbelievable," said Peter J. Hammer, co-author of the Keith biography "Crusader for Justice."

"Most federal judges sit their entire life and not have a single leading case. Judge Keith has had landmark case after landmark case after landmark case. I think it's because he approaches every case with courage, and he's willing to take on the hard cases ... if justice requires action. He's a model of humanity and civic leadership."

Following are some of the ways Judge Keith's impact has been felt locally and nationally.

High profile cases:

■ Davis v. School District of City of Pontiac, 1970: Ordered citywide busing to integrate Pontiac public schools, the first case to extend federal court-ordered integration to the North.

■ U.S. v. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1971: Ruled that President Richard Nixon and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell didn't have the right to wiretap in domestic security cases without a court order.

■ Garrett v. City of Hamtramck, 1971: Ruled that Hamtramck practiced so-called "Negro removal" under the guise of urban renewal and ordered the city to build new public housing.

■ Stamps v. Detroit Edison Co., 1973: Ordered Detroit Edison to pay $4 million to black employees and start an affirmative action program in a historic job-discrimination case.

■ Baker v. City of Detroit, 1979: Ordered the Detroit Police Department to carry out Mayor Coleman Young's plan to integrate.

■ Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft 2002: Upheld a lower court decision prohibiting the Justice Department from barring the public and press from deportation hearings involving people suspected of supporting terrorism. One of his most famous quotes came out of that case that is still referenced today: "Democracy dies behind closed doors."

Law clerks

His roster of former clerks reads like a who's who in the nation's legal and civic registry. Among them, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Wayne State University Law School dean Jocelyn Benson, legal scholar Lani Guinier and federal and local judges including Wayne County Circuit Judge Edward Ewell, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina M. Wright, and and Judge Eric L. Clay, who now sits with Keith on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rosa L. Parks

He called her Mother Parks and to Keith, she wasn't just a civil rights icon. She was a friend and a comrade in the battle for equal rights. He was instrumental in her life in several ways. Among them, he ensured she was present at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to welcome Nelson Mandela to the city — something others had overlooked. Yet when Mandela arrived, he stepped past other dignitaries to warmly greet her, proclaiming "Rosa! Rosa! Rosa Parks!

After Parks was attacked during a robbery at her home, Keith arranged for her to move to a safer, more secure home on Detroit's riverfront, thanks to help from his friend, the late A. Alfred Taubman.

After Parks passed away, Keith was a key organizer of home-going celebrations held in Detroit, Washington, D.C., and her home state of Alabama.

Bicentennial commission

Among the achievements of which he is very proud is serving as national chairman of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, which convened a conference of more than 350 federal judges. Keith, the only African American on the committee, was appointed chairman by then-Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William Rehnquist. "Knowing his interpretation of the Constitution was frequently at odds with others on the federal bench, Keith viewed this appointment as a gesture of respect," his biographers write.

During a 1991 meeting of the commission in Williamsburg, Va., something happened that was as disturbing as the chairmanship was prestigious. While Keith stood outside the hotel during a break, a car pulled up and a middle-aged man in a business suit, assuming Keith was a porter, asked the judge to park his car.

Keith later told the group, "Not a day goes by that in some way, large or small, I am not reminded that I am an African American and that this nation is still plagued by prejudice."

Places named in his honor

Among the places named for the judge are a school in Detroit, a dormitory at West Virginia State University and, most recently, the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. The center at the Wayne State University Law School opened in 2011. It serves as a hub for civil rights research, teaching and learning and houses the Damon J. Keith Collection of African-American Legal History.

Compiled by Detroit Free Press Writer Cassandra Spratling