Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Official portrait of United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Official portrait, 1976
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office
January 7, 1972 – June 26, 1987[1]
Nominated byRichard Nixon
Preceded byHugo Black
Succeeded byAnthony Kennedy
Chairman of Virginia State Board of Education
In office
1968–1969
88th President of American Bar Association
In office
1964–1965
Preceded byWalter Early Craig
Succeeded byEdward W. Kuhn
Chairman of Richmond School Board
In office
1952–1961
Personal details
Born
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.

(1907-09-19)September 19, 1907
Suffolk, Virginia, U.S.
DiedAugust 25, 1998(1998-08-25) (aged 90)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic[2]
Spouse
Josephine Pierce Rucker
(m. 1936; died 1996)
Children4
Education
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1942–1945
Rank Colonel
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsBronze Star
Legion of Merit
Croix de Guerre

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.

Born in Suffolk, Virginia, he graduated from both the Washington and Lee University School of Law and Harvard Law School and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He worked for Hunton & Williams, a large law firm in Richmond, Virginia, focusing on corporate law and representing clients such as the Tobacco Institute. His 1971 Powell Memorandum became the blueprint for the rise of the American conservative movement and the formation of a network of influential right-wing think tanks and lobbying organizations, such as The Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Powell to succeed the late Associate Justice Hugo Black. He retired from the Court during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, and was eventually succeeded by Anthony Kennedy.

His tenure largely overlapped with that of Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Powell was often a key swing vote on the Burger Court. His majority opinions include United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975), Gregg v. Georgia (1976), First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978), Solem v. Helm (1983), and McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), and he wrote an influential opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). He notably joined the majority in controversial cases such as United States v. United States District Court (1972), Roe v. Wade (1973), Milliken v. Bradley (1974), Harris v. McRae (1980), Plyler v. Doe (1982), and Bowers v. Hardwick (1986).

  1. ^ "Members of the Supreme Court of the United States". Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  2. ^ Biskupic, Joan; Barbash, Fred (August 26, 1998). "Retired Justice Lewis Powell Dies at 90". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2017.