Local News

Funeral Service Held Today For Civil Rights Icon Judge Damon Keith

May 13, 2019 / 9:13 AM EDT / CBS Detroit

click to expand

DETROIT (AP) — Flags are being lowered and federal court offices are closed for the day in parts of Michigan to honor prominent Judge Damon J. Keith , who was a figure in the civil rights movement.

DETROIT - MAY 11: Former Detroit Pistons' star Dave Bing (R) is sworn in as the 62nd mayor of the City of Detroit by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith at the citys Department of Elections office May 11, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. Bing, a long-time Detroit area businessman, defeated incumbant Ken Cockrel Jr. in a special run-off election to become Detroit's third mayor in eight months. Bing will finish out the second term of convicted ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick which ends at the end of 2009, and then another mayoral election will be held. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

A funeral service for Keith is Monday at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered U.S. and Michigan flags within the state capitol complex and on all state buildings to be lowered Monday to half-staff. Federal court offices for the Eastern District of Michigan are closed.

Keith, who was remembered as a legal trailblazer, died April 28 at age 96. He served more than 50 years in the federal courts, and before his death still heard cases about four times a year at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.