# John Feikens

John Feikens (December 3, 1917 – May 15, 2011) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

## Education and career

Born December 3, 1917, in Clifton, New Jersey, Feikens received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939 from Calvin College and a Juris Doctor in 1941 from the University of Michigan Law School. He worked for the priorities and war allocations department of the Detrex Corporation in Detroit, Michigan from 1942 to 1946. He was in private practice in Detroit from 1946 to 1960 and from 1961 to 1970.

## Federal judicial service

Feikens received a recess appointment from President Dwight D. Eisenhower on October 13, 1960, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan vacated by Judge Clifford Patrick O`Sullivan. He was nominated to the same position by President Eisenhower on January 10, 1961. His service was terminated on September 27, 1961, after his nomination was not confirmed by the United States Senate. A previous nomination by President Eisenhower on June 10, 1960, expired without action by the Senate, prior to his recess appointment.
Feikens was nominated by President Richard Nixon on October 7, 1970, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, to a new seat authorized by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 25, 1970, and received his commission on December 1, 1970. He served as Chief Judge from 1979 to 1986. He assumed senior status on March 1, 1986. His service terminated on May 15, 2011, due to his death in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.

### Notable Decisions
#### Procter Gamble Co. v. Bankers Trust Co.

On Wednesday, September 13, 1995, Bankers Trust Co, and Procter and Gamble Co. alerted Judge Feikens that Business Week, a magazine owned by McGraw-Hill, had obtained documents from ongoing litigation between the two parties. Both Bankers and P&G desired the details to remain secret. That same day, without notice or hearing, Judge Feikens issued an order enjoining and prohibiting McGraw-Hill from publishing the documents without consent of the court. The action rose significant First Amendment concerns as a rare instance of prior restraint against the press, a legal issue considered settled in favor of the press in the Pentagon Papers case of 1971, New York Times Company v. United States. On March 5, 1996, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled 2 to 1 that Feikens had been wrong to bar the publication of an article based on the documents.

## Professional associations, civic and other activities

* Director of the Detroit Bar Association (1962–1967), president 1967; trustee to the Detroit Bar Association Foundation
* Member of the American Bar Association
* State Bar of Michigan Commissioner (1965–1971)
* Member of Fellow American College of Trial Lawyers
* Director of the Economic Club of Detroit
* Co-Chairman, Michigan Civil Rights Commission, (1964–1968)
* Board of Trustees, New Detroit, Inc. (1968–1970)
* Board of Trustees, Calvin College (1968–1974)
* University of Michigan Club
* Committee of Visitors, University of Michigan Law School
* Director, Economic Club of Detroit