Editing Hugo Black (section)

==Retirement and death==
[[File:Hugo L Black Courthouse.jpg|thumb|[[Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse]] in Birmingham, Alabama]]
Justice Black admitted himself to the [[National Naval Medical Center]] in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], in August 1971, and subsequently retired from the court on September 17.<ref>Black had signed an undated letter of resignation on August 26, the day before his August 27 admission to Bethesda. The letter was delivered to President Nixon by Black's messenger on September 17; {{cite book|author1=Bob Woodward|author2=Scott Armstrong|title=The Brethren: inside the Supreme Court|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1IEu9zWWTIC|year=1981|publisher=Avon Books|isbn=978-0-380-52183-8|pages=183–184|access-date=February 19, 2016|archive-date=March 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323150538/https://books.google.com/books?id=q1IEu9zWWTIC|url-status=live}}</ref> He had a stroke two days later and died on September 25.<ref name="The New York Times 1971">{{cite web | title=Hugo Black Suffers Stroke; Condition Listed as Serious | website=The New York Times | date=September 23, 1971 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/23/archives/hugo-black-suffers-stroke-condition-listed-as-serious.html | access-date=October 2, 2020 | archive-date=May 3, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503234050/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/23/archives/hugo-black-suffers-stroke-condition-listed-as-serious.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1971-09-25 |title=Justice Black Dies at 85; Served on Court 34 Years |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/25/archives/justice-black-dies-at-85-served-on-court-34-years-civil-liberties-a.html |access-date=2024-01-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Services were held at the [[Washington National Cathedral|National Cathedral]], and more than 1,000 people attended. Pursuant to Justice Black's wishes, the coffin was "simple and cheap" and was displayed at the service to show that the costs of burial are not reflective of the worth of the human whose remains were present.<ref>[http://www.funerals.org/frequently-asked-questions/51-qsimple-and-cheapq-my-father-said Pesaresi, Josephine Black ''"Simple and Cheap" My Father Said'', Monday, 26 November 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402065141/http://www.funerals.org/frequently-asked-questions/51-qsimple-and-cheapq-my-father-said |date= April 2, 2010 }} [[Funeral Consumers Alliance]].</ref> His remains were interred at the [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name="Christensen">Christensen, George A. (1983), {{cite web|url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |title=Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices |access-date=November 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050903032026/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |archive-date=September 3, 2005 }}, Yearbook, [[Supreme Court Historical Society]].</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Christensen |first=George A. |title=Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited |journal=Journal of Supreme Court History |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=17–41 |year=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5818.2008.00177.x|s2cid=145227968 }}</ref>

President [[Richard Nixon]] nominated [[Lewis F. Powell Jr.|Lewis Powell]] to succeed Black on the Supreme Court. Powell was sworn in on January 7, 1972.<ref>{{cite news| title=Retired Justice Lewis Powell Dies at 90| last1=Biskupic| first1=Joan|author-link1=Joan Biskupic|last2=Barbash| first2=Fred| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=August 26, 1998| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/powell082698.htm| access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref>