Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2015.
Born in Detroit, Levin graduated from Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. He 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. 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. Levin was re-elected in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. On March 7, 2013, Levin announced that he would not seek a seventh term. On March 9, 2015, Levin announced he was joining the Detroit-based law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. At the same time, he founded the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School, dedicated to "strengthening the integrity, transparency, and accountability of public and private institutions by promoting and supporting bipartisan, fact-based oversight; advancing good governance, particularly with respect to the legislative process; and promoting civil discourse on current issues of public policy".
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 Levin was the fourth longest-serving incumbent in the U.S. Senate. He released his memoir, Getting to the Heart of the Matter: My 36 Years in the Senate, in March 2021. It was published by Wayne State University Press.
Early life, education, and career Levin was born in Detroit, the son of Jewish parents, Bess Rachel (née Levinson) and Saul R. Levin. Saul served on the Michigan Corrections Commission. Levin graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1952 and attended Swarthmore College. He graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1956. During his student summers he worked as a taxi driver and on an auto factory line. He then attended the Harvard Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1959. He also received an honorary degree from Swarthmore College in 1980, as well as honorary degrees from Michigan State University in 2004, Wayne State University in 2005, Lawrence Technological University in 2006, and Michigan Technological University in 2008.
After earning his Juris Doctor, Levin was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan. He entered private practice as a lawyer for Grossman, Hyman and Grossman and taught law at Wayne State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. 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. He 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.
Detroit City Council
Levin was elected to the Detroit City Council (known then as the Detroit Common Council) in 1969, serving two four-year terms from 1970 to 1977. Levin served as president of the City Council throughout his entire second term, until the end of his tenure. During his time as council president, Levin became so frustrated with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's handling of repossessed houses in Detroit (leading neighborhoods to suffer from significant urban decay), that he and other members of the council, went out with a bulldozer "to help raze some of the houses." He was close to Detroit mayor Coleman Young, the city's first African-American mayor, and was described by Forbes as Mayor Young's "right hand man." During his time on the City Council, Levin practiced law part-time, working as a counsel for the Schlussel, Lifton, Simon, Rands and Kaufman law firm from 1971 to 1973. He later served as the general counsel at Jaffe, Snider, Raitt, Garratt and Heuer, from 1978 to 1979.
United States Senate
Levin was elected to the United States Senate in 1978, defeating incumbent Republican Senator Robert P. Griffin.
Committee assignments Committee on Armed Services (chairman) As chairman of the full committee, Sen. Levin served as an ex officio member of all subcommittees Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia (chair) Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (chair) Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Select Committee on Intelligence
Legislation sponsored Levin was the sponsor of 51 bills that became law.
Political positions Armed services
Levin chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and from 2007 until his retirement in 2015. He 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. Levin previously chaired the committee when the Democratic Party was the majority party in the Senate, January 3–20, 2001 and June 6, 2001 – January 6, 2003.
Levin joined the Armed Services Committee upon joining the Senate. Recalling when he was assigned the committee seat, he said that he wanted to learn more about the armed services. "I had never served, and I thought there was a big gap in terms of my background and, frankly, felt it was a way of providing service."
He was a strong advocate for cost controls regarding military procurements. He has also 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.
Having believed that in order to improve the military the United States needed to shut down unneeded installations and get rid of excess infrastructure, Levin helped lead passage of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act, which closed some military bases.
Levin supported the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, ensuring that all nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons from post-Soviet states, are secured and dismantled. Levin argued that Nunn-Lugar presented "a chance to bury the new Hitlers and Stalins of that region before they have a chance to take root." After members of the United States House of Representatives and then-Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) threatened to redirect funds from the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, Levin joined a bipartisan group of senators in opposition to the 20% reduction in funding. In 2003, he voted in favor of the Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, expanding the provisions to non-Soviet countries, and in 2005 cosponsored Senate Amendment 1030, removing congressionally imposed restrictions that delay the implementations of 2003 expansion act.
In 1992, he voted to ratify the START I treaty, and for the ratification of START II in 1996, banning MIRV's and Intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 2010, Levin voted in favor of the New START Treaty, extending the original treaty until 2021 and reducing both the U.S. and Russia's deployed strategic nuclear arsenal, by almost two-thirds. In an op-ed in The Hill, Levin said that, "This treaty is a strong statement that the United States is committed to reducing the dangers to the world that nuclear weapons present. That commitment makes it easier for us to work with the international community."
During the 2009 MDA/AIAA Annual Missile Defense Conference, Levin spoke in favor of the U.S.-Russian cooperation on missile defense:Remarks of Senator Carl Levin at the MDA/AIAA Annual Missile Defense Conference , March 23, 2009 "Leaders in both the U.S. and Russia have recently expressed interest in exploring missile defense cooperation. Did you ever believe that some of our missile defense engineers and experts might be working together with their Russian counterparts? It could happen and if it does, it could help address a major threat. The bottom line is simple: We have a new opportunity to seek a cooperative approach with Russia on missile defense, and we should seize it. The upside potential of such an effort is huge – a geopolitical game changer. The downside is minimal."
As Chair of the Armed Services Committee, Levin was instrumental in the enactment of the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 and the legislation ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military in 2010. He played a vital role in the enactment of legislation addressing the problem of sexual assault in the military in 2013 and 2014.
Levin led Senate investigations into the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Abu Ghraib. He also played a key role in the enactment of the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibited the torture of detainees in U.S. custody. Levin insisted on the inclusion of language that, as affirmed by the U.S. 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. Under Levin's leadership, the Senate Armed Services Committee conducted oversight hearings ranging from counterfeit parts in the DOD procurement system to the use of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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.
Afghanistan war
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Levin voted in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 23, authorizing President George W. Bush the use of "necessary and appropriate force" against those who "planned, authorized, committed or aided" al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
Levin grew critical of the Bush administration's handling of the Afghanistan War, saying in 2005 that they "took their eye off the ball when we decided to go after Iraq instead of al-Qaeda, the people who had attacked us on 9/11, and their leader. In 2008, 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.