Powell News archive
-----------------------------------------------------
April 17, 2012
Lyle Denniston's Powell Lecture Now Online
SCOTUS Blog's Lyle Denniston delivered tenth annual Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Lecture on April 5, 2012. The entire lecture can be viewed from a link on the law school's home page or from the law school's YouTube channel.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 23, 2012
Spreadsheet Finding Aid Now Has Hyperlinks to Case Files
Researchers can now go directly from the spreadsheet with the listing of all of Justice Powell's Supreme Court case files, to the case files that have been scanned electronically.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 21, 2012
Justice Powell's First Opinion
In his first months on the Court, Justice Powell participated in a dissent and took actions on appeals as a Circuit Justice. The first opinion in which he wrote for the Court, however, -- Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. First Security Bank of Utah -- was delivered forty years ago today, March 21, 1972.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 19, 2012
Powell Related Publications Available Through Google Books
Though the paperback version is still available for sale, John C. Jeffries, Jr.'s biography, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., has been out of print in hardback for some time. Now there is another way to access this work, through Google Books. Some pages of the 2001 paperback edition are freely available online. You can also purchase an ebook version at the same place.
The Powell Archives' 1997 publication, The Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Papers: A Guide, can also be previewed through Google Books. Researchers can also obtain a physical copy at no cost by contacting the Powell Archives.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 15, 2012
Illegal Immigration and Illegitimate Searches: Almeida-Sanchez v. U.S.
Stephen Wasby's new article, Court of Appeals Dynamics in the Aftermath of a Supreme Court Ruling, "explores the relationship between the Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals through the story of the aftermath of the 1973 border search case of Almeida-Sanchez v. United States and its progeny." Justice Powell's file for this case is now available online.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 13, 2012
U.S. News Law School Rankings and W&L Law
The U.S. News & World Report 2013 ranking of law schools has been released, and Washington and Lee University School of Law has returned to the top twenty five. At the request of an administrator in 2009, the archives created this history of W&L law and the U.S. News rankings.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 13, 2012
Powell Clerks in the News: J. Harvie Wilkinson
The Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson, clerk to Justice Powell OT 71 & 72, wrote this op-ed piece on judicial restraint for the New York Times.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 12, 2012
Still More Death Penalty Cases Online
The case files for the below mentioned Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana are now available online.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 7, 2012
More on the Death Penalty: Gregg v. Georgia Case File Now Online
This was the lead case in a group of capital cases which included Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana. In Gregg v. Georgia, the Court sought to give guidance to the states regarding death penalty legislation in light of Furman. It clearly affirmed the Court's acceptance of the use of capital punishment.
Coincidentally, the Court this week ruled on the issue of counsel to indigents in capital cases. The case, Martel v. Clair is from California.
-----------------------------------------------------
March 5, 2012
The Death Penalty and Powell's First Term
'On Powell's first day at the Court, Marshall joked, "Do you have your capital punishment opinion written yet?"' So wrote Powell biographer John Jeffries, and the quote had little hyperbole. Ten days after Powell was sworn in, Aikens v. California, the case that sought to have the death penalty declared "cruel and unusual," was argued before the court.
But it was the case of Furman v. Georgia, the Court's attempt to end capital punishment without declaring it unconstituional, that would ironically bring executions back as a regular part of criminal justice in the United States. You may now see Justice Powell's files for Furman, Aikens, and a number of other death penalty cases from October term
-----------------------------------------------------
Feburary 29, 2012
Remembering Wilt's 100 and the Law News' First Year
Something completely different for leap day, a sports story. This Friday, March 2, will mark 50 years since Philadelphia Warrior Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks contested in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Eleven years later, with Wilt in the twilight of his career but still an indomitable force with the Los Angeles Lakers, the intrepid sports staff of the fledgling paper, The W&L Law News, were able to get a rare interview with "The Stilt." You can read both the story and the interview transcript.
-----------------------------------------------------
Feburary 27, 2012
October Term 1972 Case Files Online
This term, Powell's first full term, extended from October 1972 to the summer of 1973, and presented the Court with a host of social and political issues, many of which remain contentious today. Abortion and obscenity are perhaps the most celebrated of these. But there were also questions of public school funding, public school desegregation, the rights of illegitimate children, alien rights, water rights, Congressional gerrymandering, gender based equal protection, and parental reimbursement for non-public education.
Almost two dozen complete case files from this historic term are now available online. Many of them have been added this month.
-----------------------------------------------------
Feburary 24, 2012
Roe v. Wade Now Online
Abortion is in the news in both the Presidential election and in state legislation. See some of the machinations of the Justices in deciding the landmark Roe v. Wade case by looking at Justice Powell's case file. Doe v. Bolton is also available.
-----------------------------------------------------
Feburary 22, 2012
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Advocate
It is well known that, before she became a jurist, Justice Ginsburg argued several equal protection cases before the Supreme Court. One of these, Kahn v. Shevin, has recently been added to the cases available online. See how Justice Powell summarized Ginsburg's argument in his bench notes from oral argument.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 21, 2012
San Antonio and Funding Public Education
Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum's remarks on state interest in operating public schools brings to mind the 1972 case, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodrigeuz. The case challenged the public education funding scheme of this school district. Justice Powell authored the opinion, and his extensive case file is now available online.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 17, 2012
Gift of Photo Valentine's J. R. Tucker Bust
This photograph of the sculptor Edward V. Valentine's bust of John Randolph Tucker, first dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, was generously given to the Powell Archives by the Virginia Military Institute's archives. The bust was lost in the 1934 fire that destroyed the first law building which bore Tucker's name.
The dedication on the photo's mat was written by J. R. Tucker's son, Henry St. George Tucker, third dean of the law school. The recipient, William M. McAllister, was likely theOregon politician and jurist, whom the younger Tucker would have known from his own political career, and from ABA service.
The photographer is unknown, though it could have been the sculptor, himself, as he created some notable images. Much of the provenance of the photo after it was given to McAllister is unknown. Eventually it was offered on ebay, purchased by a VMI alum, and given to that institution.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 15, 2012
Civil War Anniversary
Apropos the sesquisentennial Civil War observance, this volume of the Confederate States Statutes at Large can be found in the collection of Charles Edward Burks.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 13, 2012
Valentine's Day
See a selection of Valentine's Day greetings and a reminiscence from Justice Powell's papers.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 8, 2012
"But I know it when I see it."
Several case files concerning obscenity from October Term 1972 are now availableonline. These include Miller v. California and Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 7, 2012
Black History Month and Mock Convention
February, of course, is Black History Month. This coming weekend is the Washington and Lee University's Mock Convention, a venerable institution more than a century old. This image of Adlai Stevenson from an October 1956 issue of The Richmond Afro-American has echos of both.
At the 1956 Mock Convention, Alben Barkley both finished his speech and expired in one final breath. That convention, like the real one, nominated Adlai Stevenson.
First published in 1941 The Richmond Afro-American was a direct descendant of The Richmond Planet which was started in 1882. Though Afro-American ceased publication in 1996, black newspapers are are very much alive in Richmond and throughout the United States.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 3, 2012
Before Citizens United ...
... there was First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti. See Justice Powell's complete case file under October Term 1977 at the Supreme Court Case files in electronic format page.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 2, 2012
McCleskey and the Tucker Lecture
Justice Powell's opinion in McCleskey v. Kemp played a prominent role in Bryan Stevenson's riveting Tucker Lecture this past Monday. See the entire McCleskey case file, including 14 draft opinions, by going to the "Supreme Court Case files in electronic format" page, and scrolling down to October Term 1986.
-----------------------------------------------------
February 1, 2012
Remembering the Titanic
Reading stories about the Titanic in this the 100th anniversary of its sinkingin, brought to mind the 2000 case R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel ... . Judge J. Calvitt Clarke presided at the trial. His Titanic case file is in his papers.
-----------------------------------------------------
January 26, 2012
Judicial Humor: The Snail Darter and the "The Man for All Seasons"
Soon after the TVA v. Hill decision was announced, Chief Justice Burger sent this to the opinion's author, Justice Powell.
-----------------------------------------------------
January 24, 2012
Justices Attendance at State of the Union Addresses
Visiting law professor Todd Peppers is co-author of a study about the Supreme Court and State of the Union addresses. This work was referenced in an Adam Liptak piecein yesterday's New York Times. Here is a 1981 letter reflecting Justice Powell's thoughts on the event.
-----------------------------------------------------
January 23, 2012
Aerial Reconnaissance Photography
The role of World War II aerial reconnaissance photography was the subject of a recent installment of PBS's Nova. Colonel Lewis F. Powell must have used some of these photos in his work with the intelligence section of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe. This was a reminder, too, of the trove of captured German aerial reconnaissance photos from World War I in the John H. Tucker papers . An example can be seen here. For more on this see Terrance Finnegan's Shooting the Front: Allied Aerial Reconnaissance in the First World War.
-----------------------------------------------------
January 12, 2012
Article About Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings
As we are taking note of Justice Powell's Senate confirmation forty years ago, the Law and Society Review article, '“No Hints, No Forecasts, No Previews”: An Empirical Analysis of Supreme Court Nominee Candor from Harlan to Kagan' is timely.
----------------------------------------------------
January 7, 2012
Powell Sworn In as Ninety Ninth Justice
On this day in 1972, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
----------------------------------------------------
January 5, 2012
Bakke Case File Finished!
This entire case file is now available online.
----------------------------------------------------
January 3, 2012
Powell Takes Oath of Office
On January 3, 1972, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. took the constitutional oath of office. He became a federal employee with a salary of $60,000 per year.
----------------------------------------------------
December 15, 2011
Archives Holiday Closing
The Powell Archives will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2.
----------------------------------------------------
December 15, 2011
Powell Confirmation Anniversary
Last Wednesday, December 7, 2011, marked the fortieth anniversary of Justice Powell's confirmation by the Senate. The vote was 89-1 [Sen. Fred Harris (D-Okla.) dissenting.]
----------------------------------------------------
December 14, 2011
Bakke Case File Update
The file has become so lengthy that it now has its own sub-page. The Chambers Draft memo has now been added, as well.
----------------------------------------------------
December 13, 2011
Bakke Case File Update
All of Justice Powell's typescript opinion drafts are now available online. On to the printed drafts!
----------------------------------------------------
December 12, 2011
Walter H. Ryland Collection
Noted Virginia attorney Walter H. "Rusty" Ryland has donated his collection of court briefs and other legal publication. Ryland is an alumnus of both the College (1965) and the School of Law (1967.) The briefs reflect his work in SCOTUS constitutional litigation as well as his work on bid protest cases, counsel to higher education and other non-profits, public contracts, and general practice.
----------------------------------------------------
December 8, 2011
Mac Users and Powell Case Files
If you are using Apple devices to download and read the Powell Supreme Court case files, open the files in native Adobe Acrobat Reader. Using the default preview has resulted in readability issues.
----------------------------------------------------
December 6, 2011
Bakke File Progress: Slow but Steady
Scanning of the massive Regents of California v. Bakke case file -- it constitutes about 1% of the entire run of 2,500 case files -- proceeds apace. The subject files are now online. Because of the complexity of the case, Justice Powell created files relating to various points of law and the positions taken by some of the Justices.
The first draft opinion from this file is also up. It is Powell clerk Bob Comfort's typescript from October 6, 1977.
----------------------------------------------------
December 1, 2011
Greenhouse on Plyler
Linda Greenhouse mentions Justice Powell's Plyler v. Doe concurrence in an article in today's New York Times. The case dealt with alien children and public education. See for yourself how Powell crafted this concurrence by inspecting the case file (under OT 1981.)
Ron Mann recapped the Hall v. U.S. argument at SCOTUS Blog.
----------------------------------------------------
November 30, 2011
Todd Peppers On Humor in the Powell Chambers
Todd Peppers, Henry H. and Trudye H. Fowler Professor of Public Affairs at Roanoke College, and Visiting Professor of Law here at W&L Law, has published an article on Supreme Court judicial humor in the latest edition of Green Bag. Specifically, it draws upon materials in the Powell Archives to discuss humor at Justice Powell's law clerk reunions.
(Disclaimer: any mention here of researchers' use of the Powell Archives is done only with the permission of the individual researcher.)
----------------------------------------------------
November 29, 2011
Online Case File Addition: the other Bellotti v. Baird
"Bellotti v. Baird II," as it is sometimes known, is now online. It is from OT 1978, and features over 500 pages of draft opinions.
----------------------------------------------------
November 29, 2011
Powell Clerks in the News
Professor Ronald Mann previews Hall v. U.S. argument at SCOTUS Blog.
----------------------------------------------------
November 21, 2011
Online Case File Additions: U.S. v. U.S. District Court and Kelly v. Robinson
One case each from Justice Powell's first and last terms on the Court.
----------------------------------------------------
November 17, 2011
Online Case File Addition: Bowers v. Hardwick
This, some would say infamous, homosexual rights case is now online.
----------------------------------------------------
November 15, 2011
Powell Clerks: In the W&L Law School and In the News
Last week Columbia Law Professor Ronald Mann (OT 1986) gave the keynote address at a W&L Law symposium Regulation in the Fringe Economy. He joins several fellow clerks of Justice Powell who have spoken here.
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey and then-ABC News President David Westin both spoke at the 2007 symposium noting the centenary of Justice Powell's birth. The Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (OT 1971 & 1972) ended the week-long celebration by delivering the 2007 Powell Lecture.
Noted attorney Larry Hammond (OT 1971 & 1972), and New Mexico U.S. District Judge James Browning (OT 1982) lent their expertise to W&L law students during visits in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
Harvard Law Professor Richard Fallon (OT 1981) has written a draft paper on the quality of scholarly amicus briefs. It caught the attention of the New York Times.
Looking further back, the passing of Harvard Law Professor William J. Stuntz (OT 1985) was widely note this past March. Dozens of obituaries and tributes can be easily retrieved from the web, along with his blog about his illness.
It has now been over a year since Joel Klein (OT 1974) resigned his position as the first Chancellor of the New York City School System. (Disclosure: the Powell Archivist's son was Klein's Deputy Press Secretary at the NYC DOE.) He was seated prominently behind his new employer, Rupert Murdoch, during this year's famous pie-throwing incident.
----------------------------------------------------
November 8, 2011
Online Case File Additions: Capital Cases
Justice Powell's Supreme Court case files Adams v. Texas (1979), Wainwright v. Witt(1985), and Batson v. Kentucky (1986) are now available online.
----------------------------------------------------
November 7, 2011
Notice for Law School Records Managers: Two Shredding Containers
There are now locked 65 gallon containers in the copy room (450B) and the archives (1004) into which you can place law school records to be shredded. (The smaller container that was in the mail room is now gone.) The materials placed in these containers will be picked-up and shredded on sight about every 8 weeks. The archivist will have a certificate of destruction should you ever need this for auditing purposes. There will still be an annual special visit by the service for oversize shredding projects, where many cubic feet need to be destroyed at one time.
As we now have this added capacity, you may wish to reconsider time formerly spent on in-house shredding. Please inform anyone who has document destruction needs to freely use this service.
----------------------------------------------------
November 1, 2011
Online Case File Additions: Abortion Cases
Several of Justice Powell's case files pertaining to reproductive rights are now available online. These include Stanton v. Stanton, Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, Bellotti v. Baird, H.L. v. Matheson, Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, and Akron v. Akron.
----------------------------------------------------
November 1, 2011
Notice for Law School Records Managers: Shredding Pickup
This Thursday, November 3, the shredding contractor will be here to pickup documents to be destroyed. The Law School is on a roughly eight week schedule, with the next pickup occurring the end of December or beginning of January. We are also planning on trading our one small collection bin for two larger ones. The locations will be announced here when they are known.
----------------------------------------------------
October 27, 2011
Online Case File Addition: Keyes v. School District #1
Justice Powell's voluminous case file for the important school desegregation case,Keyes v. School District #1, Denver, Colorado, is now online.
----------------------------------------------------
October 26, 2011
Archive of W&L Law Website Now Has It's Own Page
----------------------------------------------------
October 24, 2011
Stats from Latest Archive-It Crawl
Following a crawl of the Law School website on October 20-21, Archive-It reported having crawled 114,768 documents and archived 16.5 GB of information.
----------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
Law School Now Archive-It Partner
Thanks to the law library's consortial arrangement with LIPA (Legal Information Preservation Alliance,) the law school is now a subscriber to Archive-It, the Internet Archive service that allows institutions to build and preserve collections of born digital content. Currently the law school has its entire website crawled quarterly for preservation purposes. The last crawl searched over 5,600 pages.
Archived content is available for browsing 24 hours after content has been captured and is full text searchable within 7 days. Collections are hosted at the Internet Archive data center, and they can be browsed at http://www.archive-it.org/ . A W&L Law "landing page" will also be set up and its address will be posted here soon.
----------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
New Web Page Look
The things most researchers use most often are now accessible from the home page. The policies and other information found through the navigation pane on the left have all been updated, as well. Let us know what you think.
----------------------------------------------------
October 11, 2011
Online Case File Additions
New case files available online include Milliken v. Bradley, the Detroit school desegregation case.
----------------------------------------------------
October 7, 2011
Online Case File Additions
Forty two case files from twelve Supreme Court terms are now online. Most are complete files. Titles include Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., Buckley v. Valeo, Regents of University of California v. Bakke, Dun & Bradstreet v. Greenmoss, and McCleskey v. Kemp.
------------------------------------------------------
October 4, 2011
Selected Powell Supreme Court Case Files Available Online
Several case files from Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.'s Supreme Court papers are now available in pdf format. (See bottom of page.) More will be added. Please let the archives know if you have problems in using the files, if there seem to be missing pages -- especially from opinion drafts, or if you discover any other needed corrections.
-------------------------------------------------------
October 3, 2011
Rare Books Now in Archives
With the library's old Rare Book Room repurposed as office space, the rare book collection has come under the auspices of the Powell Archives, and is housed in the archives stacks. The collection has four principal components: 1) A general collection consisting of rare books donated or purchased through the years; 2) The collection of the late Lynchburg, Virginia lawyer, Charles E. Burkes, who endeavored to collect every Virginia law book every written; 3) Famous Alumnus John W. Davis' "Cases and Points" and other books; and 4) the Supreme Court Chambers Library of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. This year the entire collection has been inventoried and preservation work has been done on many books. The entire collection is cataloged in Annie.
----------------------------------------------------------
September 30, 2011
A. Christian Compton Papers add case files.
Three cubic feet of case files, c. 1974-2001, have been added to the papers of the late Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, A. Christian Compton.
August 23, 2011
40th Anniversary of the "Powell Memorandum"
On August 23, 1971 Lewis F. Powell, Jr. mailed a typescript "Confidential Memorandum" entitled, "Attack On American Free Enterprise System," to the Chairman of the Education Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
January 9, 2007
A. Christian Compton Papers
The papers of W&L Law Alumnus and former Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, A. Christian Compton, have been added to the archives. The papers are four cubic feet in extent. About 75% of the papers deal with Compton's role as university trustee. The remainder is subject files from his work on the court.
July 29, 2005
J. Calvitt Clarke Papers guide available
A guide marked-up in EAD (encoded archival description) is now available.
May 23, 2005
Walter E. Hoffman Papers guide available
A guide marked-up in EAD (encoded archival description) is now available.
December 2, 2004
Butler Papers Additions
Former Virginia 6th District U.S. Representative M. Caldwell Butler has added to his rich and extensive papers held by the Powell Archives. Several new areas of documentation - especially regarding Mr. Butler's pre-Congressional career - are found here. The bulk of the additions, however, expand on topics already present in earlier gifts, most particularly the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon.
July 23, 2004
Powell Papers Additions
The children of the late Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Lewis F. Powell Jr., have given more personal papers of their late parents to the Powell Archives. This gift includes approximately 16 cu. ft. of correspondence, clippings, photos, motion picture film, audio tapes, certificates & degrees, artifacts and miscellany. The span dates of these materials are approximately 1923-1996. These materials are additions to the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Papers and to the Josephine Rucker Powell Papers already head in the Powell Archives. Topics covered in these additions are almost entirely personal; there are no new Supreme Court papers here.
July 22, 2004
Papers of Judge J. Calvitt Clarke
Approximately 27 cubic feet of judicial and personal papers of the late J. Calvitt Clarke were given to the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives by his son, J. Calvitt Clarke III. Judge Clarke succeeded Judge Hoffman, whose papers arrived just weeks before, on the federal bench of the Eastern District Court of Virginia. In addition to documenting many of the famous cases heard by Judge Clarke - the Titanic salvage case and the Walker family spy case, etc. - the papers include other aspects of his life. His involvement Republican politics in Virginia and his family's vital interest in the Christian Children's Fund, Inc. are two such topics.
May 20, 2004
Papers of Judge Walter E. Hoffman Arrive
Approximately 95 cubic feet of judicial papers of the late Walter E. Hoffman are now part of the holdings of the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives. Hoffman and Powell were members of the Washington and Lee law class of 1931. These papers document aspects of Hoffman's more than 40 years on the federal bench of the Eastern District Court of Virginia.
July 15, 2002
Law School Exam Index Added
An index arranged by course title is now available for W&L law school exams held by the Powell Archives from the period 1981-2001. This represents the majority of the archives' holdings of exams -- 25 bound volumes plus 2.5 cu. ft. of unbound exams. Another cubic foot of exams, most from 1966-1980, have not yet been indexed. See the Law School Archives page for the exam access policy.
July 12, 2002
Supplemental Powell Papers Finding Aids Available Online
Secondary, more detailed finding aids to specific portions of the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Papers are now available to researchers online. These aids include a listing of all Supreme Court case files and listings of Powell correspondents in various series of letters.
June 18, 2002
Powell Archives Finding Aids Available Online Through Virginia Heritage Project
All of the manuscript collections held by the Powell Archives now have XML/EAD encoded finding aids available online. This was made possible by the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. (See 6/21/01 story below.) The guide to the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Papers is an on-going project. The "skeleton" of the guide is complete, and detail is being added. As of the above date, the guide is fleshed-out through ABA series in the "Professional Associations" portion of the papers. All the 12 other guides are complete.
June 21, 2001
Powell Archives Participates in Virginia Heritage Database Project
The Virginia Heritage Database, created by the Virginia Heritage Project Task Force of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a union database of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) tagged finding aids to archival collections in Virginia. The Powell Archives is among the eleven institutions presently contributing to the database. The contents of the database represent only a small percentage of each institution's holdings. At this time, the Powell Archives has only one test finding aid in the database, the guide to the Charles V. Laughlin Papers. To see a list of the participants and to find more about the project, to theVirginia Heritage Project website.
June 21, 2001
Robert Ray Materials
Independent Counsel Robert W. Ray presented a small group of papers (4.5") from the period 1994-2001 to his alma mater, Washington and Lee University School of Law, around the time of his speaking engagement here in April 2001. The materials, all related to his work as Deputy Independent Counsel and Independent Counsel investigating President Clinton, include: 1) Duplicate of the letter to President Clinton's counsel dated January 19, 2001 bearing Ray's signature; 2) 2 photos from the press conference announcing the settlement with President Clinton; 3) President Clinton's agreement to a suspension for five years from the practice of law in Arkansas, Independent Counsel's statement about this agreement, and related correspondence; 4) Two versions, one bound and the other unbound, of "Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr., by the Office of Independent Counsel," (with an appendix to the unbound version), 1994; 5) "Final Report of Independent Counsel (In re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association) In re: Anthony Marceca, March 16, 2000; 6) "Final Report of Independent Counsel (In re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association) In re: Bernard Nussbaum, March 16, 2000; 7)"Final Report of Independent Counsel (In re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association), In re: William David Watkins and In re: Hillary Rodham Clinton, October 18, 2000 (Filed June 22, 2000) with addendum. The materials are open for use by researchers.
October 11, 2000
Justice Powell's FBI File In Powell Archives
Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Powell Archives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the U.S. Department of Justice has provided copies of 1,385 pages of documents from FBI records pertaining to Lewis F. Powell, Jr. The documents were "sanitized" during review by the FBI. Excised passages, most often the names of persons, have been blacked-out. In some cases entire pages have been withheld. These records were the basis of newspaper stories earlier this year about Powell's relationship with the FBI and its first Director, J. Edgar Hoover. This material is open for research use.
September 1, 2000
Faculty Biographical Sketches Online
Biographical information about every full-time law school faculty member known to be deceased is now available. The information for these profiles came from sketches, prepared primarily by Charles V. Laughlin, in Hamilton Bryson's Legal Education In Virginia: A Biographical Approach, and from published and unpublished records held in the archives of Washington and Lee. There is also biographical information about many current faculty members in this same location.
January 28, 2000
Compact Shelving Installation Completed
Installation of a Spacesaver power operated mobile shelving system in the stacks of the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives is now complete. All of the holdings which were unavailable during construction are once again open for use. The project nearly doubles the stacks capacity and includes several ranges of shelving for artifacts and oversized materials.
June 1, 1999
Additions to Powell Papers
Books, papers, photographs, and artifacts from Justice Powell's Richmond, Virginia home were recently transferred to the Powell Archives. The extent of these materials is approximately 35 cu. ft. These materials will be integrated into the larger body of Powell papers and effects which previously came from storage in Richmond and Washington, and from his Supreme Court office. Artifacts from Powell's student days at W&L and from his military service are included in this accession.
August 26, 1998
Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Dies
Retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. died of pneumonia at 4:30 a.m. August 25, 1998 at the house in Richmond, Virginia that had been his home since he returned from service in World War II. Funeral services are planned for Monday August 31 at 11:30 a.m. at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond. Burial in Hollywood Cemetery will be private. By custom, a memorial service at the Supreme Court will take place in six months time. Though web links to news obituaries of Powell will be too short lived to be usefully listed here, lengthy obituaries and related stories about Powell can be found in both the August 26, 1998 printed and the archived web versions of The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch among many other sources.
June 28, 1998
Papers of Frank R. Parker, III
The personal and professional papers of noted civil rights litigator, scholar, and educator, Frank R. Parker, III, were given to the Powell Archives by his widow, Ann Lawver. Parker had more than twenty-five years litigation experience in racial discrimination and other civil rights cases. This included some of the most important voting rights cases in Mississippi. His scholarship grew out of this experience and his writings included the award winning book Black Votes Count. In recent years, Parker had begun a career in legal education. He died on July 10, 1997 while serving as visiting professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
The papers include: biographical materials; personal papers; papers re service with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Mississippi and Washington (DC) offices, 1981-1994; Joint Center for Political Studies papers, 1995-1996; Writings, 1964-1994; law school teaching papers, 1993-1997; audio and video cassette recordings, 1986-1994; printed materials, c. 1969-1990. Though only roughly processed and preliminarily inventoried, these papers are open to researchers without restriction.
December 15, 1997
National Bankruptcy Review Commission Papers
M. Caldwell Butler, member of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission which just completed its business and issued its report, has donated his papers concerning his Commission work to the Powell Archives. The fourteen cubic feet of materials include correspondence, memoranda, drafts of the commission report, and transcripts and minutes of commission meetings. Though not fully processed, a preliminary inventory has been prepared and the papers are open for research use. Much of this material is available on-line at a variety of locations. At this time, the the Comission's website is the most complete source. (As the Commission is now out of business, there are plans for theAdministrative Office of the U.S. Courts to become the "on-line repository" for Commission documents.) The Bankruptcy Review Commission papers will be added to the Caldwell Butler papers previously held by the archives. These earlier papers were donated following Butler's retirement from the House of Representatives in 1980.
September 15, 1997
Justice Powell's Ninetieth Birthday
September 19, 1997 is the ninetieth birthday of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. The Justice lives in retirement in the house in Richmond, Virginia that has been his home since he returned from service in World War II. Those wishing to send birthday greetings should address them to: Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., c/o Dorothy Bain, U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit 1100 E. Main St., Richmond, VA 23219.
In honor of this auspicious birthday, and to make Washington and Lee School of Law's Powell papers holdings more widely known, the Powell Archives has published The Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Papers: A Guide. Designed to be used both as a public relations instrument and a finding aid for researchers, the publication does not include container listings which would have run many tens of pages. That information will be made available on this web site. This publication does have the biographical information, provenance note, and scope and content information of a traditional published manuscript guide. Also included are two essays (by Oliver W. Hill and J. Harvie Wilkinson, III) on Powell from the 1992 dedication of the Powell Archives, and listings of facts about Powell' s life and career.
This publication will be mailed to approximately 200 archives and manuscript repositories in October. The Dean of the School of Law will also be sending it to many law schools and jurists throughout the country. You may obtain a copy of this publication by contacting the archives (see "contacting the archives" on the navigation bar to the left).
June 26, 1997
Tenth Anniversary of Justice Powell's Retirement
On June 26, 1987, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. announced his retirement from the Supreme Court in an press conference in the Court's West Conference Room.
Robert H. Bork was nominated to succeed Powell. Following weeks of political warfare and days of acrimonious hearings, the Senate rejected the nomination. Douglas H. Ginsburg's nomination never came to hearing after his occasional use of marijuana as a young professor was reported in the press. President Reagan's third nominee fared much better. Anthony Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate with no dissenting votes on February 18, 1988.
April 8, 1997
Descriptive Elements of Powell Papers Added
The Powell Papers subpage now has an abstract of the papers, a chronology of Powell's life, and a listing the component parts of the papers.
April 7, 1997
Abstracts of Papers Added
Summaries of the Butler, Laughlin, Ritz, Sharp and Tucker papers are now available through the "Other Manuscript Collections" subpage.
April 5, 1997
150th Anniversary Logo Added
The Washington and Lee University School of Law will officially note its 150th anniversary from September 1998 through May 1999. This commemoration coincides with the 250th anniversary of Washington and Lee University. Logos designed to note each of these celebrations are now on the navigation bar of the Powell pages. They contain links to the official anniversary pages.
February 12, 1997
Powell Chambers Closed
On January 7, 1997 the Supreme Court chambers of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. were officially closed. Though he left the Supreme Court bench in June 1987, Powell's Retired Associate Justice status allowed him to maintain an office in the Court building for as long as he wished. He made regular use of the office through early 1996.
In anticipation of the office closing, virtually everything remaining in Justice Powell's office and in his storage area at the Court was moved to the Powell Archives in December 1996. Some 75 cubic feet of papers were added to those previously transferred. In addition to the papers, photographs; audio and visual recordings; artifacts; and the chambers library were received at the same time.
Many of the papers documented Justice Powell's activities since his retirement. These include: general correspondence; correspondence with other Justices; subject files; speeches and writings; and case files from Powell's work as an extra judge on the U.S. Fourth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. Almost half of these papers, however, were from Powell's Supreme Court tenure or earlier. Included here are: additions to papers concerning World War II service; additions to personal papers; correspondence with his former clerks; memoranda to clerks; legal memoranda; and much more.
By early January, these papers were arranged in new series or integrated into already existing series. Though more refined processing remains to be done, these additions are open and are already being used by researchers. Note: As is true with the Supreme Court materials, Justice Powell's permission must be obtained before access can be provided to the Appeals Court case files.
