Kathleen McCree Lewis

Kathleen McCree Lewis (September 27, 1947 – October 16, 2007) was an American lawyer and former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Lewis was born in Boston. An African-American, After graduating from Detroit's Cass Technical High School (where she was a member of its state championship debate team), Lewis earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan in 1969 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1973.

Lewis' father, Wade H. McCree, was the U.S. Solicitor General from 1977 until 1981. He also was a federal appeals court judge himself, having been appointed to the Sixth Circuit by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and serving on the Sixth Circuit until his appointment as Solicitor General.

In 1973, Lewis joined the Dykema Gossett law firm in Detroit, rising to become a partner at the firm and serving as the firm's appellate litigation specialist.

Lewis first was considered for a different vacancy on the Sixth Circuit. In 1995, her name appeared on the short list to replace retiring Judge Damon Keith, according to a March 20, 1995 article in Crain's Detroit Business. Ultimately, however, President Bill Clinton chose to fill that vacancy by nominating Helene White to that vacancy; White never was confirmed, however. Clinton earlier had nominated another contender for Keith's former seat, Eric L. Clay, to a different vacancy on the Sixth Circuit, and Clay was confirmed easily.

On September 16, 1999, President Clinton nominated Lewis to the Sixth Circuit vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy. "I'm thrilled and I feel very honored," Lewis told the Detroit Free Press in an article that appeared on September 17, 1999.

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