Lewis Franklin Powell (1907 - 1998)

Biography

Lewis was born in 1907 in Suffolk, Virginia, the son of Louis Powell and Mary Gwathmey. He graduated from both Washington and Lee Law School and Harvard Law School and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.

In 1936, he married Josephine Pierce Rucker with whom he had three daughters and one son. She died in 1996.

He worked for a large law firm in Richmond, Virginia, focusing on corporate law and representing clients such as the Tobacco Institute. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Powell to succeed 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 First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti and McCleskey v. Kemp, and he wrote an influential opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. He notably joined the majority in cases such as United States v. Nixon, Roe v. Wade, Plyler v. Doe, and Bowers v. Hardwick.

He died at his home in the Windsor Farms area of Richmond, Virginia, of pneumonia, at 4:30 in the morning of August 25, 1998, at the age of 90. He is buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.

Sources

• Wikipedia contributors. "Lewis F. Powell Jr.." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 1 Jan 2020.
• "Virginia, Birth Certificates, 1912-1913", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBN-1X5K : Thu Mar 07 05:03:24 UTC 2024), Entry for Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr and Louis Franklin Powell, 19 Sep 1907.
• "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJV7-LV9 : Mon Apr 22 22:21:21 UTC 2024), Entry for Louis F Powell and Mary L Powell, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CZMX-PMM : Fri Mar 08 00:40:25 UTC 2024), Entry for Louis F Powell and Mary L Powell, 1930.
• "United States Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTMJ-3QT : Wed Mar 06 13:09:54 UTC 2024), Entry for Lewis F Powell, Jr and Josephine R Powell, 1940.
• "Virginia, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WR-WKG9 : Sun Mar 10 20:39:27 UTC 2024), Entry for Lewis Franklin Powell and Josephine Rucker Powell, 16 Oct 1940.
• "United States Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XLL-V1P7 : Tue Mar 19 13:57:24 UTC 2024), Entry for Carry C Dabrey and Marvin P Rucker, 10 April 1950.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3572/lewis_franklin-powell: accessed April 25, 2024), memorial page for Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (19 Sep 1907–25 Aug 1998), Find a Grave Memorial ID 3572, citing Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.