Image:US_Supreme_Court_Justice_Lewis_Powell_-_1976_official_portrait.jpg
'''Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.''' (September_19, 1907 – August_25, 1998) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States. He developed a moderate reputation, and was known as a master of compromise and consensus-building.
==Early life==
Powell was born in Suffolk,_Virginia. He attended Washington_and_Lee_University, garnering both an undergraduate and a law degree from that university. He was elected president of student body as an undergraduate. At a leadership conference, he met Edward_R._Murrow and they became close friends. He attended Harvard Law School for a master's degree.
During World_War_II, he spent more than three years in Europe and North Africa. He started as a First Lieutenant, but rose to the rank of Colonel. He worked mostly in intelligence, decoding German messages.
Powell was a partner for over a quarter of a century at Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell and Gibson, a large Virginia law firm.
In 1936, he married Josephine Pierce Rucker. They had three daughters and one son. Powell's wife died in 1996.
==Virginia Government==
Powell also played an important role in local community affairs. From 1952 to 1961, he was Chairman of the Richmond School Board. Powell presided over the school board at a time when the State of Virginia was locked in a campaign of defiance against the Supreme Court's decision in ''Brown_v._Board_of_Education''. The Richmond School Board had no authority at the time to force integration, however, as control over attendance policies had been transferred to the state government. Powell, like most white Southern leaders of his day, did not speak out against the state's defiance, though he would foster a close relationship with many black leaders, such as Civil_rights lawyer Oliver_Hill, some of whom offered key support for Powell's nomination. Powell proudly swore in Virginia's first black governor, Douglas_Wilder, in 1991.
Powell was President of the American_Bar_Association during the year 1964-1965, where he enjoyed an enormously productive tenure. Powell led the way in attempting to provide legal services to the poor, and he made a key decision to cooperate with the federal government's Legal Services Program.
Powell was involved in the development of Colonial_Williamsburg, where he was both a trustee and general counsel. In 1971, he wrote the famous Powell_Memorandum to a friend at the U.S._Chamber_of_Commerce. The memo called for corporate America to become more aggressive in molding politics and law in the U.S. and may have sparked the formation of one or more influential right-wing Think_tanks.
==Supreme Court tenure==
In 1969 President Nixon asked him to join the Supreme Court; Powell turned him down. In 1972 Nixon asked him again. Powell was unsure but Nixon convinced him joining the Court was a duty to his nation. He and William_Rehnquist were nominated by President Nixon on the same day to serve on the court. Powell took over the seat of Hugo_Black. On the day of Powell's swearing-in, when Rehnquist's wife Nan asked Josephine Powell if this was the most exciting day of her life, Josephine reportedly said, "No, it is the worst day of my life. I am about to cry."
Lewis Powell served from January_7, 1972 to June_26, 1987.
Powell compiled a decidedly moderate record on the Court, cultivating a reputation as a swing vote with a penchant for compromise. For example, his opinion in ''Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke'' (1978) joined by no other justice, represented a compromise between the opinions of Justice William_J._Brennan, who, joined by three other justices, would have upheld affirmative action programs under a lenient judicial test, and the opinion of John_Paul_Stevens, also joined by three justices, who would have struck down the affirmative action program at issue in the case under the Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964. Powell's opinion striking down the law urged that "strict scrutiny" be applied to affirmative action programs, while hinting that some affirmative action programs might pass Constitutional muster. Powell, who dissented in the case of ''Furman_v._Georgia'' (1972), striking down capital punishment statutes, was a key mover behind the Court's compromise opinion in ''Gregg_v._Georgia'' (1976), which allowed the return of capital punishment but only with procedural safeguards.
Powell was the swing vote in ''Bowers_v._Hardwick'', opting to go with the majority ruling which upheld Georgia's Sodomy_laws. He was reportedly distressed over how to vote. A conservative clerk advised him to uphold the ban, and Powell, who believed he had never met a gay person (not realizing that one of his own clerks was a closeted homosexual), voted to uphold Georgia's law, though Powell in a concurring opinion expressed concern at the length of the prison terms prescribed by the law. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/books/2001/0107.mencimer.html
In 1990, after his retirement from the Court, he said, "I think I made a mistake in the Hardwick case," marking one of the few times a justice expressed regret for one of his previous votes. http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/useditorial08.htm Powell also expressed regret over his majority opinion in ''McCleskey_v._Kemp'', where he voted to uphold the Death_penalty against a study purporting to confirm that the penalty was applied disproportionately to African-Americans.
==Retirement==
Powell was nearly 80 years old when he resigned his position as Supreme Court justice. He was succeeded by Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy was the third nominee for his position. The first, Robert_Bork, was not confirmed by the Senate. The second, Douglas_H._Ginsburg, withdrew his name from consideration after admitting to having smoked marijuana.
Justice Powell died at his home in Richmond,_Virginia of pneumonia at 4:30 am on August_25, 1998 at the age of 90. He is buried at Richmond's Hollywood_Cemetery.
In her 2002 book, ''The Majesty of the Law'', Justice Sandra_Day_O'Connor wrote, "For those who seek a model of human kindness, decency, exemplary behavior, and integrity, there will never be a better man."
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{{succession box|title=Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|before=Hugo_Black|after=Anthony_Kennedy|years=January_7, 1972 – June_26, 1987}}
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Powell, Lewis Jr.
Powell, Lewis Jr.
Powell, Lewis Jr.
Powell, Lewis Jr.
Powell, Lewis Jr.
Powell, Lewis
Powell, Lewis