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." 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. 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.

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