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.

