President Richard Nixon on constitutional issues before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities during its 1973 investigation into the break-in the previous year at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement in the burglary. In this capacity, in federal district court, he argued unsuccessfully that the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches protected the president from having to turn over White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. After the U.S. House of Representatives, incited by the "Saturday Night Massacre", initiated impeachment proceedings against Nixon, the president shuffled his legal team, and in January 1974, James D. St. Clair supplanted Wright as Nixon's lead attorney. Wright was an active litigator before the U.S. Supreme Court (though St. Clair, not he, argued United States v. Nixon in 1974). Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once described Wright as "a Colossus standing at the summit of our profession." A former student teasingly suggested the diminutive Ginsburg was actually referring to Wright's 6-3 height. The politically liberal Ginsburg also referred to Wright, a Republican, as "the quintessential friend." By the end of his life, Wright was on a first-name basis with all nine justices. Wright was also involved in both intramural and intercollegiate athletics. Wright served on the NCAA Committee on Infractions from 1973 until 1983, including five years as chair. At the University of Texas, Wright's achievements extended beyond the classroom and courtroom: Wright led the Legal Eagles – a stunningly successful intramural football team – to 330 wins during his 45-year involvement as coach and athletic director. He was also a member of the committee that was formed to hire a new head football coach of the University of Texas in 1997, eventually hiring Mack Brown. Personal life and death Wright was married to Eleanor Custis Wright; they had five children: Charles E., Norie, Margot, Henrietta and Cecily. He died on July 7, 2000 at the North Austin Medical Center in Austin, Texas, from complications following lung surgery, at the age of 72. References Further reading External links Guide to the Charles Alan Wright Papers, 1880-2004, Special Collections, Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin. 1927 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American lawyers American legal scholars Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the American