66 Facts About Carl Levin

Carl Milton Levin was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015.

Carl Levin worked as the general counsel of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1964 to 1967, and as a special assistant attorney general for the Michigan Attorney General's Office.

Carl Levin was a member of the Detroit City Council from 1969 to 1977, serving as the council's president for the last four of those years.

In 1978, Levin ran for the United States Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Robert P Griffin.

Carl Levin was re-elected in 1984,1990,1996,2002, and 2008.

On March 7,2013, Carl Levin announced that he would not seek a seventh term to the Senate.

On March 9,2015, Carl Levin announced he was joining the Detroit-based law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP.

Carl Levin became Michigan's senior senator in 1995, and he was the longest-serving senator in the state's history.

At the time of his retirement Carl Levin was the fourth longest-serving incumbent in the US Senate.

Carl Levin released his memoir, Getting to the Heart of the Matter: My 36 Years in the Senate, in March 2021.

Carl Levin graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1952 and attended Swarthmore College.

Carl Levin graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1956.

Carl Levin then attended Harvard Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1959.

Carl Levin received honorary degree from Swarthmore College in 1980, as well as honorary degrees from Michigan State University in 2004, Wayne State University in 2005, and Michigan Technological University in 2008.

Carl Levin entered private practice as a lawyer for Grossman, Hyman and Grossman and taught law at Wayne State University and the University of Detroit Mercy.

Carl Levin served as General Counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1964 to 1967, where he helped form the Detroit Public Defender's Office and led the Appellate Division of that office, which has become the State Appellate Defender's Office.

Carl Levin served as a special assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan and chief appellate defender for the city of Detroit from 1968 to 1969.

Carl Levin was elected to the Detroit City Council in 1969, serving two four-year terms from 1970 to 1977.

Carl Levin served as president of the City Council throughout his entire second term, until the end of his tenure.

Carl Levin later served as the general counsel at Jaffe, Snider, Raitt, Garratt and Heuer, from 1978 to 1979.

Carl Levin chaired the Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and from 2007 until his retirement in 2015.

Carl Levin became the Democratic ranking member on the committee on January 7,1997, and served in that position when the Democratic Party was in the minority.

Carl Levin joined the Armed Services Committee upon joining the Senate.

Carl Levin was a strong advocate for cost controls regarding military procurements.

Carl Levin has pushed for less secrecy in government, working to declassify many documents, particularly where false and misleading claims of ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda are concerned.

In 2010, Carl Levin voted in favor of the New START Treaty, extending the original treaty until 2021 and reducing both the US and Russia's deployed strategic nuclear arsenal, by almost two-thirds.

Carl Levin led Senate investigations into the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Abu Ghraib.

Carl Levin played a key role in the enactment of the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibited the torture of detainees in US custody.

Carl Levin insisted on the inclusion of language that, as affirmed by the US Supreme Court, ensured that the legislation would not deprive detainees of their right to access to the federal courts under a writ of habeas corpus.

In 2014, Levin was recognized by the Jewish Community Center Association of North America with the Frank L Weil Jewish Military Award for legislation that has benefitted Jews and other minorities serving in the military.

In 2008, Carl Levin became concerned that the United States and the international community lacked a strategy for success in Afghanistan, and that NATO failed to supply troops and equipment needed in emergency situations.

Carl Levin was opposed to the 2009 Afghanistan troop surge, stressing the advancement of training and expanding the Afghan National Army; saying that the ANA should increase to 240,000 by 2012, from the original goal of 134,000, and the number of active members of the Afghan National Police should expand to 160,000, from the initial goal of 96,000.

Carl Levin was an early opponent of using US military force in Iraq, saying in August 2002 that "if Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, he wouldn't use them," and that "he's a survivalist, not a suicide bomber".

In late January 2007, amid what was seen as the fiercest political battle over the Iraq strategy during the Iraq War, Carl Levin joined a bipartisan group of senators, including then Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, Susan Collins, and Chuck Hagel, to oppose any further escalation in Iraq; and in voting in March 2007, in favor of setting a withdrawal date for US forces in Iraq.

In October 2011, Carl Levin said that President Barack Obama made the "right decision" in withdrawing US troops from Iraq at the end of 2011, and not continuing a US military presence.

Carl Levin authored the Competition in Contracting Act, which has led to reductions in federal procurement costs.

Carl Levin played an instrumental role in the enactment of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, which cut red tape out of the federal procurement system and prioritized the purchase of commercial products over government-unique designs.

Carl Levin teamed with Senator John McCain to write the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act, which virtually eliminated cost overruns on major defense purchases for a period of several years after its enactment.

For 15 years, from 1999 to 2014, Senator Carl Levin served in leadership positions on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Carl Levin led tax investigations that attracted international attention for exposing tax misconduct by wealthy individuals and profitable corporations.

Carl Levin was a strong supporter of the creation of the Department of Education.

Carl Levin was a hesitant sponsor of the No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2009, Senator Carl Levin directed the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate whether Department of Energy policies caused a rise in the price in crude oil.

Carl Levin led an investigation in 2001 to try to discover the cause of the spike in gasoline prices that summer.

Carl Levin worked to prevent garbage from Canada from being disposed of in Michigan.

Carl Levin's work included support for Great Lakes harbors, which are vital to Michigan's economy and the nation's; work to increase funding for Great Lakes environmental restoration; and to preserve the natural, historical, and cultural legacy of the lakes, including historic lighthouses.

Carl Levin played a leading role in helping found the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Keweenaw National Historic Park, and in legislation to preserve Michigan wilderness areas.

Carl Levin authored the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which established the first effective disclosure requirements for federal lobbyists and association provisions that significantly tightened the rules governing gifts to Members of Congress from lobbyists and others.

Carl Levin was the author of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 which prohibited gifts of honoraria to Members of Congress and significantly limited the use of expensive junkets.

Carl Levin authored the Whistleblower Protection Act, which protected federal employees who expose wasteful and unnecessary practices.

Senator Carl Levin supported a Patients' Bill of Rights to reduce the ability of managed care organizations to affect medical decisions.

Carl Levin was an advocate for embryonic stem-cell research because of its potential to cure diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's.

Senator Carl Levin was one of only three Democratic senators to dissent from Harry Reid's leadership to vote against the nuclear option which switched the Senate away from operating on a supermajority basis, to requiring only a simple majority for certain decisions, on November 21,2013.

Carl Levin supported changing the rules to a simple majority for confirmation votes, but did not support using the nuclear option to do so, saying in his speech on the floor on that day that this "removes an important check on majority overreach" and that he wished to "preserve the rights of the Senate minority".

Carl Levin was a critic of the New Hampshire presidential primary's first-in-the-nation status, saying a more diverse state, such as his own Michigan, should hold its contest first.

In June 1986, along with Paul Simon and John Melcher, Carl Levin was one of three senators to oppose a tax reform bill.

In November 1998, Carl Levin attended a White House reception for National Adoption Month.

Carl Levin was one of the 16 senators who voted against the Vitter Amendment.

Carl Levin was almost always seen wearing his glasses at the end of his nose, which drew a bounty of humorous attention.

An avid supporter of the non-profit civil rights organization Focus: HOPE, Carl Levin was instrumental in the procurement of equipment and funding for their Machinist Training Institute.

Carl Levin won re-election five times before retiring from the Senate.

Carl Levin married Barbara Halpern in 1961, and they had three daughters and six grandchildren.

Carl's uncle Theodore Levin was a chief judge on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Carl's first cousin Charles Levin was a Michigan Supreme Court judge; another first cousin, Joseph Levin, was a candidate for the House.

In March 2021, Carl Levin disclosed that he had lung cancer.

Carl Levin died at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit on July 29,2021, at age 87.