Reprints Of Speeches And Essays Of Justice William O Douglas PDF Download

Autographed photograph typed, signed note America William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 - January 19, 1980) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court. In 1975, a Time article called Douglas the most doctrinaire and committed civil libertarian ever to sit on the court. During that time, he also established the records for the most opinions written, the most dissents written, the most speeches given, and the most books authored by any member of the Supreme Court. None of his successors has surpassed these records. In 1939, Justice Louis D. Brandeis resigned from the Supreme Court, and Roosevelt nominated Douglas as his replacement on March 20. Douglas later revealed that this had been a great surprise to him--Roosevelt had summoned him to an important meeting, and Douglas feared that he was to be named as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 4 by a vote of 62 to 4. At the age of forty, Douglas was one of the youngest justices to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. In general, legal scholars have noted that Douglas's judicial style was unusual in that he did not attempt to elaborate justifications for his judicial positions on the basis of text, history, or precedent. Instead, Douglas was known for writing short, pithy opinions which relied on philosophical insights, observations about current politics, and literature, as much as more conventional judicial sources.