Judge Damon Keith Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2643 To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Judge Damon Jerome Keith. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 17, 2019 Mr. PETERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Judge Damon Jerome Keith. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judge Damon Keith 4 Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Judge Damon Keith was born on July 4, 8 1922, in Detroit, Michigan, and died at his home in 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2643 IS Detroit, Michigan, surrounded by family and loved 1 ones, on April 28, 2019. 2 (2) Judge Damon Keith received a bachelor of 3 arts from West Virginia State University, a juris 4 doctor from Howard University School of Law, and 5 a master of laws from Wayne State University Law 6 School. 7 (3) Judge Damon Keith served in the United 8 States Army from 1943 to 1946 when he was dis- 9 charged as a sergeant. 10 (4) Judge Damon Keith devoted his life to pub- 11 lic service and served more than 50 years on the 12 Federal bench where he was a champion for civil 13 rights and individual liberties for all. 14 (5) Judge Damon Keith served as one of the 15 first cochairman of the Michigan Civil Rights Com- 16 mission at its inception in 1964 where he worked to 17 oppose discrimination and enforce equal protection 18 under the law. 19 (6) Judge Damon Keith was first nominated to 20 the United States District Court for the Eastern 21 District of Michigan in 1967 by President Lyndon 22 Johnson where he served as the first African-Amer- 23 ican chief judge of the court from 1975 to 1977. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2643 IS (7) Judge Damon Keith became the sixth Afri- 1 can American to serve on the United States Court 2 of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit when he was nomi- 3 nated by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, where he 4 served as senior judge on the court from May 1, 5 1995, until his passing. 6 (8) Judge Damon Keith in a 1970 decision 7 upheld the civil rights of Pontiac, Michigan, students 8 when he ordered a bus policy and new boundaries in 9 Pontiac, Michigan, schools in order to end racial 10 segregation. 11 (9) Judge Damon Keith defended the protec- 12 tions guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to 13 the Constitution of the United States when he held 14 in United States v. Sinclair, 321 F. Supp. 1074 15 (E.D. Mich. 1971), a landmark decision upheld by 16 the Supreme Court of the United States, that the 17 United States Government must obtain a warrant 18 before beginning domestic electronic surveillance. 19 (10) Judge Damon Keith ruled against housing 20 discrimination in Garrett v. City of Hamtramck, 394 21 F. Supp. 1151 (E.D. Mich. 1975), where he ordered 22 the city of Hamtramck, Michigan, to relocate 500 23 African Americans who had been displaced by feder- 24 ally supported urban renewal projects. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2643 IS (11) Judge Damon Keith worked throughout 1 his career to safeguard the civil liberties, civil rights, 2 and voting rights of all people of the United States 3 while opposing housing, job, and racial discrimina- 4 tion. 5 (12) Judge Damon Keith has received more 6 than 40 honorary degrees as well as the Spingarn 7 Medal from the National Association for the Ad- 8 vancement of Colored People, the highest honor of 9 the organization for distinguished achievement, and 10 the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Jus- 11 tice Award, the highest award that can be bestowed 12 on a member of the Federal judiciary. 13 (13) Judge Damon Keith inspired generations 14 of lawyers that served under him as clerks and influ- 15 enced the State of Michigan for decades. 16 (14) Judge Damon Keith, who coined the 17 phrase ‘‘democracies die behind closed doors’’, will 18 be remembered for his dedication to upholding the 19 Constitution of the United States and commitment 20 to justice. 21 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 22 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 23 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem- 24 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2643 IS for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 1 of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 2 of Judge Damon Keith. 3 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 4 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 5 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec- 6 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 7 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec- 8 retary. 9 (c) AWARD OF MEDAL.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the gold 11 medal referred to in subsection (a), the gold medal 12 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 13 it shall be displayed as appropriate and made avail- 14 able for research. 15 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 16 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 17 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 18 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 19 locations and events associated with Judge Damon 20 Keith. 21 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 22 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 23 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 under 24 such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2643 IS sufficient to cover the cost, including labor, materials, 1 dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, of the gold 2 medal and any such duplicates. 3 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 4 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 5 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 6 of title 31, United States Code. 7 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 8 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 9 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS