Carl Levin

Carl Milton Levin ( born June 28, 1934 in Detroit ) is an American politician (Democratic Party) since 1979 and a U.S. Senator for Michigan. He announced in March 2013, not to stand for re-election in 2014 and will retire from the Senate in January 2015.

Family and Education

Levin comes from a Jewish family. His older brother Sandy sitting since 1983 in the U.S. House of Representatives. His uncle Theodore Levin was a judge at the Federal District Court of Michigan, his cousin Charles Levin judge at the Michigan Supreme Court and his other cousin, Joseph Levin was a candidate for the House of Representatives.

Carl Levin went to Detroit to public schools and graduated in 1956 from Swarthmore College. He then attended Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1959. Shortly thereafter, he started his own business in Detroit as a lawyer.

Political career

Levin initially held various offices at the local and at the state level. He was, among other things, Deputy Attorney General of Michigan, and was from 1969 to 1977 the city council of Detroit. In 1978 he managed to move into the Congress by, hit the second highest Republican in the Senate, Robert P. Griffin in the election. His re- election in 1984, 1990, 1996 and 2002, he won, so he is now the senior U.S. Senator from Michigan in the history of the state.

Levin since 2007, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the Senate; He is since 1997 the highest ranking Democrat on that committee, that is depending on majorities minority leader or chairman. Levin fought for the disclosure of secret documents relating in particular to the alleged links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

In April 2006, Time magazine named him one of the ten best U.S. senators. The American Conservative Union sees him on a scale of 0 ( left) to 100 (very conservative) on a 7, the American Civil Liberties Union in 2005 gave him an approval rating of 78 percent at its votes the liberties of citizens concerning.

He has since 2004 an honorary doctorate from Michigan State University and, since 2005, a Wayne State University.

Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act

Carl Levin is the initiator of legislative initiative Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act against tax evasion. It should include a list of countries which are regarded as being suspect. However, several countries are included therein, which are not regarded as tax havens according to the OECD. The bill he brought on 17 February 2007 with the Senators Norm Coleman and Barack Obama in the Senate.