University of Virginia Library

Professor Testifies
'Powell Superb'

By RICHARD PETTY

In testimony before the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee yesterday, A.E.
Dick Howard, professor in the School of
Law, praised Supreme Court nominee
Lewis F. Powell Jr. of Richmond as
"superbly qualified" to sit on the nation's
highest court.

According to The Daily Progress, Mr.
Howard worked with Mr. Powell on the
Virginia Commission of Constitutional
Revision in 1968-1969.

Mr. Howard commended Mr. Powell for his
"judicious temperament, integrity, capacity for
hard work and his ability as a legal draftsman."
"Mr. Powell prefers reason to emotion,
reflection to impulse and moderation to
extreme," stated Mr. Howard.

Clear Logic

"Time after time," Mr. Howard continued,
"I have seen him able to state with clear logic a
legal or constitutional question, to sum up and
evaluate competing interests or factors, and to
propose a moderate and judicious solution."

"Mr. Powell is something of a legend as
regards his capacity for hard work," Mr.
Howard said. "His legal drafts are prepared with
a meticulousness and craftsmanship which any
lawyer would envy."

Other professors in the Law School have
expressed favorable sentiments toward the
nomination of Mr. Powell.

In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, Neill
H. Alford Jr. stated that Mr. Powell has "no
peer in the country. He is the best individual in
terms of balance and mental resources. He's
just the kind of element that ought to be on the
court." Mr. Alford declared. "Mr. Powell is first
rate."

'First Rate Lawyer'

Peter W. Low, professor of constitutional
law said of Mr. Powell, "I think he's a first rate
lawyer. He doesn't bring his political prejudices
into the analysis of an argument. I think there
is a lot of virtue in that."

In a twenty-five page written statement
prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Mr. Howard discusses Mr. Powell's past
speeches and activities in regard to various
timely issues.

Commenting on Mr. Powell's views on
wiretapping, Mr. Howard writes, "It is clear
that he recognizes and approves the place of
prior court order with carefully fashioned
limitations and safeguards when wiretaps are
used against domestic crime."