Nixon Nominates Lewis Powell to Supreme Court Two Months After Corporate Blueprint Memo

Timeline Eventconfirmed
judicial-capturesupreme-court-nominationpowell-memojudicial-systemnixon-administrationcorporate-blueprint
Judicial CaptureCorporate Capture
Actors:Richard Nixon, Lewis F. Powell Jr., John Mitchell, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Supreme Court
1971-10-22 · Washington, D.C. · 1 min read

President Richard Nixon nominates Lewis F. Powell Jr. to the Supreme Court just two months after Powell authored his secret corporate blueprint memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on August 23, 1971. Amidst a rare opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court, Nixon nominates Powell alongside William Rehnquist following the retirements of Justices Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan. Powell's nomination represents a strategic placement of a corporate law expert who had recently written a comprehensive memo advocating for systematic business influence in American institutions. The memo, which remained confidential during his confirmation hearings, would later be seen as a pivotal document in understanding corporate capture of American democratic systems.

Sources

  1. The Scheme 2: Powell on the CourtSenator Sheldon Whitehouse
  2. Address to the Nation Announcing Intention To Nominate Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and William H. Rehnquist To Be Associate JusticesThe American Presidency Project, University of California Santa Barbara
  3. On This Day: William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell Confirmed as Associate Justices of the Supreme CourtNixon Foundation