DETROIT -- Former U.S. Sen. Robert Griffin, a Michigan Republican whose withdrawal of support hastened President Richard Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal, has died at age 91.
Griffin was defeated in 1978 but landed a new career in 1987 as a Michigan Supreme Court justice -- a job he described as his "highest calling" as a public servant. He died Thursday, according to a family statement released Friday.
Griffin was appointed to the Senate in 1966, after the death of Patrick McNamara, and went on to serve 12 years in the chamber. He was a staunch Republican who initially backed Nixon during the Watergate scandal before joining other influential senators in calling for the president's resignation in August 1974.
Griffin's family said President Gerald Ford, another Michigan Republican, had pledged to nominate him to the U.S. Supreme Court but backed off in fear that senators would see it as an act of cronyism.
Griffin helped orchestrate a four-day filibuster in 1968 that squelched President Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas, a Supreme Court justice, for chief justice. Critics raised ethical questions about Fortas and described him as too liberal.
Griffin was born Nov. 6, 1923, in Detroit and served in the U.S. Army from 1943-46.
Metro on 04/18/2015