Times correspondent, now with two Pulitzer
Prizes to her credit, as well as a best-selling
nonfiction book, Five Days at Memorial.
His son, Marc Fink, a lawyer and the chief
editor of the Middle East Policy Forum,
lives in Cherry Hill, N.J., with his children
Levi and Leah. Adriennne’
s son, Erick Ruby,
is a property manager in Chicago. His entire
family was on hand to see him honored.
Fink said he has no plans on retiring
soon.
“Choose the job you love and you will
never have to work a day in your life,
” he
said. “That’
s me. I love what I do after more
than four decades. It’
s a privilege and honor
to defend the First Amendment. I consider
it a sacred calling and I feel blessed to do it.
”
CONSEQUENTIAL CASES
Fink represented the Detroit Free Press in
the unearthing of public records in the text
message scandal that led to the conviction
of then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
for perjury and the eventual federal brib-
ery and corruption charges that ended in
Kilpatrick’
s conviction and 28-year prison
sentence. The Free Press won a Pulitzer
Prize for its coverage of the scandal and
reporters called Fink “a member of their
team.
” This was the case that earned him
the SPJ First Amendment Award.
Fink said, “I’
ve had a lot of big cases and
fun cases, but that was the most consequen-
tial.
”
Retired Wayne County Circuit Judge
Robert J. Colombo heard the case.
“One of the most important cases in my
career was the case of a whistleblower suit
in the case of Brown v Kilpatrick,
” he said
in a video tribute. “This is a fine example of
how the media and an attorney representing
the media can expose corruption and pro-
tect the public.
”
Another of Fink’
s big cases involved suing
the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of
the Detroit Free Press over post-9/11 secret
closed courtroom immigration removal
proceedings against mostly Middle Eastern
men. “The public was barred, no informa-
tion was allowed, and I filed a lawsuit,
” he
said.
He won in federal court, but the govern-
ment appealed. Judge Damon Keith, the
U.S. Court of Appeals judge in this opinion
who ruled in Fink’
s favor, wrote some words
in the case that the Washington Post immor-
talized: “Democracy dies behind closed
doors.
”
In another big case, Fink defended film-
maker Michael Moore in a libel suit filed
by the brother of one of the Oklahoma City
Federal Building bombers over his movie
Bowling for Columbine.
“The party who was suing us was perhaps
… unhinged,
” Fink said. “I didn’
t want him
coming to my office so I took his deposition
in the federal courthouse where the person
suing him, James Nichols, would have to go
through metal detectors and be searched.
”
When it was Moore’
s turn to be deposed,
Fink hired security and metal detectors at
an attorney’
s office in New York City, but
Nichols never showed up. Fink won the
case.
A 10-YEAR BATTLE
Fink successfully defended rap music
icon Dr. Dre in a 10-year long First
Amendment fight.
The dispute goes back to Dre’
s infa-
mous “Up in Smoke” concert with
Eminem and Snoop Dog in July 2000
at Joe Louis Arena. The show featured a
racy video deemed “inappropriate” by the
continued on page 32
JANUARY 9 • 2020 | 31
“I think every news organization needs
someone like Herschel … If we don’t
have people like Herschel fi
ghting for us,
ultimately our freedoms are at risk.”
— DETROIT FREE PRESS EDITOR PETER BHATIA
Herschel Fink speaks
to Senior News Director
Mark Rochester and
Reporter Joe Guillen in
the Detroit Free Press
newsroom.