Kathleen McCree Lewis

Kathleen McCree Lewis (September 27, 1947 – October 16, 2007) was an American lawyer and former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. [ [http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/POLITICS/804160356/1022/POLITICS Bush, Mich. senators end fed judge fight ] ]

Early life and education

Lewis was born in Boston. An African-American, Lewis earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan in 1969 and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1973.

Lewis' father, Wade H. McCree, was the U.S. Solicitor General from 1977 until 1981. He also was a federal appeals court judge himself, having been appointed to the Sixth Circuit by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and serving on the Sixth Circuit until his appointment as Solicitor General.

Professional career

In 1973, Lewis joined the Dykema Gossett law firm in Detroit, rising up to become a partner at the firm and serving as the firm's appellate litigation specialist.

Nomination to the Sixth Circuit

Lewis first was considered for a different vacancy on the Sixth Circuit. In 1995, her name appeared on the short list to replace retiring Judge Damon Keith, according to a March 20, 1995 article in Crain's Detroit Business. Ultimately, however, President Clinton chose to fill that vacancy by nominating Helene White to that vacancy; White never was confirmed, however. Clinton earlier had nominated another contender for Keith's former seat, Eric L. Clay, to a different vacancy on the Sixth Circuit, and Clay was confirmed easily.

On September 16, 1999, President Clinton nominated Lewis to the Sixth Circuit vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5243/is_199909/ai_n20154266 THE WHITE HOUSE: President Clinton nominates Enrique Mo Moreno and Kathleen McCree Lewis to the Federal Bench. | M2 Presswire | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] "I'm thrilled and I feel very honored," Lewis told the Detroit Free Press in an article that appeared on September 17, 1999.

With the U.S. Senate controlled by Republicans during the final two years of Clinton's presidency, Lewis' nomination languished before being returned to the White House when Clinton's presidency ended, chiefly because of objections from Michigan's Republican senator, Spencer Abraham. [ [http://news.aol.com/story/_a/bush-nominates-michigan-appellate-judge/n20080415195709990003 Bush nominates Michigan appellate judge to 6th Circuit slot - AOL News ] ]

Abraham was angry with Clinton because he previously had aided the president in getting three Democratic judicial nominees from Michigan approved in the Republican-controlled Senate on the condition that Clinton make no more nominations to the federal courts from his state. When Clinton continued making nominations contrary to the original agreement, Abraham refused to give his approval to Clinton's new federal judicial nominees from Michigan, including Lewis, keeping their nominations stalled in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee without a hearing or committee vote. [ [http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/tbray/?id=95001550 The Wall Street Journal Online - From the Heartland ] ]

In 2001, President Bush nominated Susan Bieke Neilson to the Sixth Circuit seat to which Lewis had been nominated. Neilson's nomination languished for close to four years before she was confirmed in late 2005. Neilson died of cancer just two and a half months after her Senate confirmation.

Life after the failed nomination

Lewis continued working at Dykema Gossett after her nomination was withdrawn. She was named one of Michigan's top 10 lawyers of 2006 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly magazine. In an interview for that issue, Lewis told the magazine that service to her community was part of her essence. "Both of my parents were very active in the community as I was growing up, and from that I think I perceived that responsible grownups serve their communities in a voluntary capacity," she told the magazine. "It never occurred to me not to serve." [ [http://www.milawyersweekly.com/loty2006.cfm Michigan Lawyers Weekly: Lawyers of the Year ] ]

Illness and death

Lewis had battled breast cancer for 12 years, according to an October 25, 2007 article in the Detroit Free Press. Despite the fact that she had never smoked, doctors found lung cancer in 2005, the Free Press reported, and she died of an inoperable tumor on her lung, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press that was published on October 22, 2007. Lewis died on the same day that her husband David Baker Lewis' mother, Dorothy Baker Lewis, died at age 92, according to the Free Press article from October 22.

ee also

*President Clinton's judicial appointments controversy

References