Carl Levin (born June 28, 1934) is a Democratic United States Senator from Michigan. He has been in the Senate since 1979 and Michigan's senior senator since 1995. Levin was born to a Jewish family in Detroit. He attended Detroit public schools and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1956 and from Harvard Law School in 1959. Soon after earning his law degree, he was admitted to the Michigan bar and opened a practice in Detroit, where he still lives. He received honorary degrees from Michigan State University in 2004 and Wayne State University in 2005.
He was state assistant attorney general and general counsel for the Michigan civil rights commission from 1964-67. He was special assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan and chief appellate defender for the city of Detroit from 1968-69. He was a member of the Detroit City Council 1969-77, the last four years as council president. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978, defeating Senate Minority Whip Robert P. Griffin. He was subsequently reelected in 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002. He is the longest-serving Senator in Michigan history.
