Earl Warren's Last Civics Lesson: Powell V. McCormack

Abstract

The legal opinions of Earl Warren were not such as to see the development of a well-grounded constitutional theory clearly established over the course of a judicial career. Typically, they present the basic facts of a case, usually within an ethical, rather than a legal, framework.¹ Warren's last opinion delivered on the Court, Powell v. McCormack,² can in that sense be viewed as an archetype opinion.