A.E. Dick Howard

Arthur Ellsworth Dick Howard is a legal scholar who has devoted his professional life to understanding the Supreme Court, the American Constitution, and constitutions of the world.

He is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

Washingtonian magazine has named Professor Howard one of the most respected educators in the nation, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Library of Virginia included Professor Howard on their list of the "greatest Virginians" of the 20th century.

created a blue-ribbon commission charged with revising Virginia's Constitution, a post-Reconstruction document dating from 1902.

The commission, in turn, asked Howard, then 34, to serve as the commission's executive director.

In that capacity, Howard was the Constitution's primary draftsman.

The proposed Constitution sought to make Virginia's government more responsive and responsible to the Commonwealth's people.

Important changes included an assurance that every resident has access to an education, a pointed response to "massive resistance," an anti-integration movement during which some school systems opted to shut down rather than admit black students.

Having served as counsel to the General Assembly of Virginia during its constitutional revision session, Howard was then asked to lead the campaign for the Constitution's ratification.

He spoke throughout the Commonwealth—at Rotary Clubs, union halls, chambers of commerce, and other natural forums.

seeking to transform a paper document into a living idea.

The campaign was a success.

Seventy-two percent of the voters affirmed the new constitution.

Studied by other states and countries, Virginia's Constitution has endured, in large part because Howard helped ensure that the document was kept simple and to the point.

He insisted that the commission not try to anticipate all the problems of the future lest its product become quickly obsolete.

After the new constitution had been adopted, Howard penned the two-volume Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia, which won a Phi Beta Kappa prize.

In the Commentaries, Howard explored in depth the history of Virginia's Constitution, its political setting, its judicial interpretation, comparative data from other states, and its intersection with federal constitutional law.

Howard has been deeply involved in public affairs and civic life.

He has been frequently consulted by governors, legislators, attorneys general, and other public officials on a range of constitutional and legal matters.

He has served as counselor to the Governor of Virginia, and he chaired Virginia's Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution.

Professor Howard's academic accolades and experiences are numerous.

He has twice been a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, D.C. He served as president of the Virginia Academy of Laureates and received the University of Virginia's Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching.

James Madison University, the University of Richmond, Campbell University, the College of William and Mary, and Wake Forest University have conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Born in 1933, Howard was raised in Richmond, Virginia.

He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond.

Howard attended the University of Richmond, graduating first in his class (B.A., 1954).

He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, again finishing at the top of his class (1961).

He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he read philosophy, politics, and economics.

Soon after graduating from law school, Howard was a law clerk to Justice Hugo L. Black of the Supreme Court of the United States.

When Howard began his clerkship with Justice Black, the balance on the Court had recently tipped toward the liberal side.

After years of dissents, Black was now writing for the majority.

Howard found himself at Black's elbow when the Justice penned some of the Warren Court's most important decisions, including Gideon v. Wainwright and Griffin v. School Board of Prince Edward County.

After he finished his tutelage under Hugo Black, Howard joined the UVA law faculty in 1964.

He began a career at the law school which would last for more than fifty years.

Although his professional experiences are many and varied, Howard considers teaching the center of his academic and professional life.

He cares most about his students and is happiest when working with them.

Many scholars study constitutions, but Howard was afforded the rare opportunity to draft one.

In 1968, Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr.

In the fall of 2001, he was the first Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Residence at Rhodes House, Oxford.

In 2013, the University of Virginia recognized Howard with its Thomas Jefferson Award—the highest honor given to faculty members at the University.