This article was published to
honor Theodore Levin upon the naming of the US Court House in Detroit after him
in 1995.
“He Served With Distinction, Courage
and Dignity.”
by Philip Mason
October 1995
For nearly twenty-five years, from 1946 to
1970, Judge Theodore Levin served on the US District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan, the thirteenth judge to be appointed since the Court was
established in Michigan in 1837. From 1959 to 1967, he served as Chief Judge and
during those years, Theodore Levin left his mark on the Court imprinted by his
leadership, his innovative changes in court procedures, and the quality of
justice administered by his court.
Theodore Levin was born in Chicago, on
February 18. 1897 – one of eight children – to Joseph and Ida (Rosin) Levin.
He remained with his family, which moved to London, Ontario in 1905, until 1913
when he moved to Detroit at the age of sixteen. As a young boy, he sold
newspapers on the streets of Detroit and later, to earn money for college, he
worked in a machine shop.
Theodore Levin, like two of his brothers,
chose low for a career, graduating from the University of Detroit Law School in
1920 with an LLB, and in 1924 with an LLM. After admission to the Michigan State
Bar in 1920, he opened a law firm with his brother Saul, joined later by Morris
Garvett and Louis Dill. One of the firm’s special interests was Immigration
Law, assisting immigrants entering the United States from Europe and Canada. In
1931, Theodore Levin was one of the leaders along with Fred N. Butzel, Maurice
Sugar and Frank Murphy, of a successful campaign against the repressive Michigan
Alien Registration and Fingerprinting Act. He later served on the Executive
Board of the National Refugees Service Administration and as Vice President of
the Michigan Commission on Displaced Persons.
Theodore Levin’s public service expanded
in 1933 when he was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General to conduct a
grand jury investigation into the events surrounding and leading to the Michigan
Bank Holiday. From 1944 to 1946, during the war years, he was a member of the
Selective Service Appeal Board.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman appointed
Theodore Levin to be a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern
district of Michigan. Judge Levin, upon assuming office, rose quickly to
prominence as an able and dedicated judge. In 1959, he became Chief Judge, a
position he held until 1967. He carried a full caseload until his death in 1970,
and he was, for nearly a quarter of a century, a towering figure on the Court.
During his tenure, especially during his years as Chief Judge, he achieved
national renown for his work on the Judicial Conference of the United States.
Theodore Levin also won high praise for his
role as a leading innovator in the field of criminal sentencing. During his
years as judge, he became aware of, and was increasingly concerned about,
disparity in sentences. His solution: the Sentencing Council, a committee
comprised of judges and probation officers who jointly discussed sentences to be
imposed by the sentencing judge. Although this Council’s work was advisory, it
had a decided impact upon the sentencing practices of the Court. It not only
resulted in more fair and uniform sentences, but it also fostered collegiality
among judges. Several state and federal courts – including the United States
District Courts in Brooklyn and Chicago – followed Judge Levin’s enlightened
sentencing practices.
Judge Levin was recognized for this
leadership of the Court during a period of rapid expansion. He was an able
administrator and skillfully resolved conflicts among judges and court staff,
which gained him great respect. He had a remarkable talent, too, for resolving
difficult legal cases with “Practical and often unorthodox solutions.”
He was also admired and revered by his
colleagues on the court. The late Judge Wade McCree summed up his views on Judge
Levin: “He was very much a gentleman with a courtroom decorum that was the
epitome of what a courtroom should be.” Another judicial colleague, John
Feikens, admired Judge Levin for “…his qualities of kindliness, human
sympathy, depth of conscience, patience, and sagacity. He was an ideal judge in
both temperament and ability.”
Judge Levin’s understanding of human
nature, as well as his sense of humor, was shared by his son, Joseph.
He liked to tell the story of an immigrant
client of his who, while facing deportation wrote him a letter saying that, at
the time, he was mailing the letter, he was standing near the Brooklyn Bridge
and that, but the time my dad would receive the letter, he would be at the
bottom of the East River. For weeks after receiving that letter, my father
could not locate this client. Finally, sadly, he took the letter to the
District Director. The District Director told my father how sorry he was that
this man had taken his life, found the relevant file, and closed the case.
Years afterwards, a man stopped my father
on a street in downtown Detroit and said, “Mr. Levine, Mr. Levine, don’t
you remember me?”
My father looked at him
quizzically and said, “No, I don’t think I do recognize you, but you do
look an awful lot like a guy who wrote me a letter, years ago, that hw was
about to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and that, by the time I received that
latter, he would be at the bottom of the East River. If the Immigration
authorities ever thought that guy was still alive, he would go to jail for the
rest of his life.” As my dad related it, “This guy had the most frightened
look come over his face and then, white as a sheet, he turned around, ran down
the block and around the corner like a jackrabbit. I never saw him again.
Judge Levin was referred in the Detroit
Jewish community for his numerous philanthropic activities. He served as
president of several major organizations: the Jewish Welfare Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, the United Jewish Charities of Detroit, the Jewish Social
Service Bureau, and the Resettlement Service. He was an active member of the
Detroit Round Table of Catholics, Jews and Protestants. He was in the Scottish
Rite of Free Masonry and a 33rd degree Mason.
In 1995, twenty-five years after his death,
the United States Congress honored Judge Levin by naming the United States Court
House in Detroit the “Theodore Levin United States Court House.” The
Congressional Act, signed by President Clinton, was spearheaded by Judge John
Feikens and Congressman John D. Dingell, who was a law clerk to Judge Levin from
1952 to 1953.
The formal public ceremony announcing the
naming of the Court House took place on May 1, 1995 (Law Day) at the West
Lafayette entrance of the building. A capacity audience heard remarks and
eulogies from Judge John Feikens, who chaired the ceremony, Judge Julian Abele
Cook, Jr., Mayor Dennis Archer, Congresswoman Barbara Rose Collins, Rabbi Irwin
Groner, Mrs. Miriam (Mimi) Levin Lieber, Senator Carl Levin, Congressman Sander
Levin and Congressman John D. Dingell.
Published in “The Court Legacy” in
October 1995 by the Historical Society for the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Michigan.
Return to family
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