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BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News

Ell

ication
"the pursuit
justice and t
p rotection o
freedom."

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Iud e Avern Cohn:
Prejudice never disappears.
.
At est, it may be kept in
state of repose.

or many years, Avern Cohn has been sticking up for
the little guy. On Friday, Dec. 1, Detroit community
leaders will "stick up" for him.
Cohn, the longest-serving judge in the U.S. District
Court covering eastern Michigan and a dedicated civil libertarian,
will be honored by the American Civil Liberties Union of
Michigan at a sold-out dinner event at the Charles H. Wright
Museum of African American History. Cohn will receive the
ACLU's annual Morris Gleicher Civil Libertarian Award.
A noted Jewish philanthropist who is deeply involved in
communal activities, Cohn, 76, was appointed U.S. district
judge by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Preceding Cohn in
his appointment to the federal district (extending as far north
as Flint and as far south as Monroe), were pioneer Jewish
judges Charles Simons (appointed 1923), Theodore Levin
(1946) and Lawrence Gubow (1968). The U.S. district now has
seven Jewish judges out of 20. Including Cohn, they are Stewart
Newblatt, Bernard Friedman, Gerald Rosen, Nancy Edmunds,
Paul D. Borman and Arthur Tarnow.
"We are honored to have the opportunity to recognize a man
whose career as both a lawyer and a jurist exemplifies the true
purposes of the law — the pursuit of justice and the protection of
freedom," said Kary Moss, ACLU executive director.
Other Jewish participants in the Dec. 1 program are U.S. Sen.
Carl Levin (D-Mich.), U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak),
communal leaders Anita and Robert Naftaly, and local attorneys
Jeffrey Miro and Alan E. Schwartz, who will introduce Cohn, his
friend of 65 years.
Describing himself as "just a servant of the public," Judge Cohn
has shied away from publicity through the years, but granted a rare
interview to the Jewish News in his huge chambers in the Theodore
Levin Federal Building in downtown Detroit.
"When you hold a public position like this, you basically want to
keep quiet and do your job," the Bloomfield Township resident said.
"There's just no pizzazz in these courts — nothing of real pop-
ular interest, nothing very humorous," he added. "About 90 per-
cent of the cases have complex law issues."
Cohn is proud that "the Jewish judges who preceded me were
role models, and I've tried to live up to their standards. I'm