The Lawyer’s Skill Became the Judge’s Excellence

Associate Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. 1907-1998

Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., died last month at age 90, following a legal career that included 15 years as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who joined the court on the same day as Powell, delivered the eulogy at services in Richmond, Virginia. In a statement following Powell’s death, Rehnquist said, “Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. was the 99th Justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. He and I took the Oath of Office on January 7, 1972, and from that day I prized my association and friendship with him throughout his 15 years of service on the Court and after his retirement in 1987. He was the very embodiment of ‘judicial temperament’; receptive to the ideas of his colleagues, fair to the parties to the case, but ultimately relying on his own seasoned judgment. His years of diverse experience that he brought to the bench gave him a fund of common sense which is es-sential to the make-up of every great judge. He was also the epitome of a Virginia Gentleman in the very best sense of the phrase. I know that all of us who served with him will miss him.”

A private practitioner in Richmond, Powell first received national attention as president of the American Bar Association in 1964. He turned down an appointment to the Court in 1969, but accepted President Nixon’s second invitation a few years later. He was the first Virginian on the court since before the Civil War. Powell quickly developed a reputation as a consensus builder on the court. Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said of Powell, “The American Judiciary has its lasting strength in its close ties to the attorneys who practice law. The life and career of Lewis Powell are emblematic of this close, necessary bond between the bench and bar. Lewis Powell came to the Court with no previous judicial experience, but with a towering reputation as a mar-velous lawyer. He soon demonstrated to the Court and to the nation that the lawyer’s skill soon becomes the judge’s excellence.” Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who described Powell as one of the finest people she had ever known, said he “cared deeply about rendering justice in every matter in which he participated.” Likewise, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens called him “a loyal and exceptionally wise man.”

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said Powell was “the sort of man who made those who practice law proud to be members of his profession. He was a skilled advisor and advocate, a careful and even-handed judge. . . .” During World War II, Powell had served in the Army Air Corps intelligence unit, and Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer noted Powell’s military career, along with his work at the bar and on the bench, was part of his service to the nation. “He put into practice our profession’s highest ideals,” Breyer said. “He was a superb judge and a marvelous human being.” Retired Associate Justice Byron White called Powell “perhaps the epitome of a gentleman and a great lawyer. He was a fine Justice and a great friend of mine.” Powell lived, said Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as the prophet Micah counseled, “doing justice, loving goodness, and walking modestly with his God.”