Douglas William Freshfield

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Douglas, William O. (1898–1980), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.A native of Minnesota, Douglas graduated from Columbia Law School in 1925 and later taught at Yale Law School. A New Deal Democrat, he served on the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1935 to 1939, the final years as chairman. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1939. Douglas promoted the causes of human dignity and individual liberties, most often grounding his decisions in the Bill of Rights. His judicial positions sought, in the words of a 1968 opinion, “to take the government off of the backs of the people.” For Douglas, that meant full constitutional protection for all, including the despised and defenseless. His 1953 stay of execution for the convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg triggered one of four congressional impeachment efforts. His most famous opinion, in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), established a constitutional right to privacy and laid the foundation for the controversial Roe v. Wade decision (1973) upholding a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

Douglas wrote more than a dozen books, providing lively narratives of his world travels and wilderness expeditions and promoting his cherished causes, particularly environmentalism and protection of civil liberties. He was married four times and his freewheeling lifestyle coupled with his outspoken libertarianism outraged conservatives. Even his supporters sometimes found the willful, irascible Douglas easier to admire than to like. But for them, he stood as a symbol of the unwavering belief that individuals could improve the nation and the world.
See also New Deal Era, The; Rosenberg Case.

Bibliography

William O. Douglas , Go East, Young Man, 1974.
William O. Douglas , The Court Years, 1980.
James F. Simon , Independent Journey: The Life of William O. Douglas, 1980.

James F. Simon

Douglas William Freshfield 1845–1934, English explorer and mountaineer. A prominent member of the Royal Geographical Society, he did pioneer climbing in the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and the mountainous regions of many other countries. He edited (1872–80) the Alpine Journal and wrote The Exploration of the Caucasus (1896), Round Kangchenjunga (1903), ItalianAlps (1875; new ed. 1937), a biography of H. B. de Saussure (1921), and Below the Snow Line (1923).