Biden awards Presidential Citizens Medal to Kaufman, Redding, and Seitz

WILMINGTON – President Biden has included three Delawareans — Ted Kaufman and the late Louis Lorenzo Redding and Collins J. Seitz — among 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal.

The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens who have performed exemplary service for their country or their fellow citizens.

It is the second-highest civilian award in the nation, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“I want to thank President Biden for recognizing the impact of the work of attorney Louis L. Redding and Chief Judge Collins Seitz, Sr. on our country,” said Governor John Carney. “Delawareans are proud to have these two legal giants as part of our story. Redding served as Delaware’s first and most distinguished African American attorney. Seitz desegregated the University of Delaware, and a public high school and elementary school years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education case, ultimately ruling segregation unconstitutional.

“As we honor Chief Judge Seitz and Louis Redding, it inspires us to renew our commitment to tackle really hard problems and follow the courage of our convictions to make our state and nation a better place for all our neighbors. Congratulations to both families on this well-deserved honor and the work you do to continue to share their legacy and inspire generations. Our communities are stronger because of their actions.”  

Carney’s statement strangely ignored Kaufman’s award, and requests for an additional comment went unanswered Friday.

Ted Kaufman

Kaufman has been a key figure in Delaware politics and a close ally of Joe Biden. As Biden’s longtime advisor and friend, Kaufman was appointed to serve Biden’s Senate seat from 2009 to 2010 after Biden became vice president. During his brief but impactful Senate tenure, he championed financial reform, supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which brought more than $800 million to Delaware, and became known for his dedication to STEM education, receiving the ASME President’s Award for his efforts.

Kaufman, 85, served as Biden’s chief of staff in the Senate, and was at his side at the Hotel du Point when the President was first elected to the Senate.

The White House announcement said Kaufman “has served the Nation with honesty and integrity. A master of the Senate who championed everyday Americans and public servants, he’s been at the forefront of consequential debates about the courts, the financial system, and more.”

Louis L. Redding (posthumous)

Louis L. Redding made history as Delaware’s first African American lawyer in 1929, remaining the state’s only Black attorney for 26 years. His groundbreaking civil rights work transformed Delaware, particularly through two landmark cases: successfully desegregating the University of Delaware in 1950 and winning Delaware’s public school desegregation case in 1952, laying the framework for the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

He handled cases that successfully challenged discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment, and the criminal justice system. The Wilmington courthouse at 4th and King Street is named in his honor, and after his death in 1998, the University of Delaware established the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy.

Collins J. Seitz (posthumous)

Collins J. Seitz, as Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, made the courageous decision in Gebhart v. Belton that segregation was discriminatory, making Delaware the only jurisdiction whose courts had ordered integration before Brown v. Board of Education. Seitz went on to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1966 until his death in 1998.

Both cases — Belton v. Gebhart and Bulah v. Gebhart were brought by Redding against the state of Delaware challenging segregation and they were the only two cases where the plaintiffs prevailed in the lower courts.

Delaware Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. said in a statement, “The Seitz family thanks the President of the United States for awarding our father posthumously one of the government’s highest civilian honors. As a state court judge on Delaware’s Court of Chancery in the 1950s, he had the remarkable courage to declare that segregation in public school education — separate but equal — should be unconstitutional.

“The United States Supreme Court followed his lead and agreed with his reasoning, striking down the separate but equal doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education. We are overjoyed that President Biden saw fit to honor his legacy as a fiercely independent and principled judge unafraid to make difficult decisions that cut against popular opinion.”

Here are the rest of the Presidential Citizens Medal winners

• Mary L. Bonauto, attorney and activist
• Bill Bradley, two time NBA champion, Hall of Famer, and three-term U.S. Senator
• Frank K. Butler, introduced Tactical Combat Casualty Care to the medical world
• Elizabeth L. Cheney, former Congresswoman for Wyoming and vice chair of the Committee on the January 6 attack.
• Christopher J. Dodd, served for more than 50 years as a U.S. Congressman, Senator, lawyer, and diplomat.
• Diane Carlson Evans, who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation.
• Joseph L. Galloway (posthumous), who was known as the soldier’s reporter and the soldier’s friend and became the only civilian awarded a Bronze Star for combat valor by the United States Army as one of the most respected war correspondents of his era.
• Nancy Landon Kassebaum was the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate.
• Carolyn McCarthy, who served 18 years in Congress championing gun-safety measures after her husband and son were shot on a local commuter train.
• Bobby Sager, photographer and philanthropist who connects with people in war-torn countries
• Eleanor Smeal, led massive protests in the 1970s geared toward steering progress for equal pay and encouraging passage of the Violence Against Women Act.
• Rep. Bennie Thompson, registered southern Black voters as a college student and chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee.
• Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi (posthumous), incarcerated alongside more than 120,000 Japanese Americans and challenged the injustice all the way to the Supreme Court
• Thomas J. Valley, a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War who established Fulbright University Vietnam
• Frances M. Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition
• Paula S. Wallace, lifelong educator and trailblazer of the arts who established the Savannah College of Art and Design
• Evan Wolfson, led the marriage quality movement