William O. Douglas served the longest term as a Supreme Court Justice from 1939 to 1975. He was considered a liberal justice who believed strongly in civil liberties like free speech. Some of his most notable majority opinions included Terminiello v. Chicago, which protected inflammatory speech, and Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a right to privacy. Douglas faced two unsuccessful impeachment attempts during his lengthy and influential career on the Supreme Court.

1. William O. Douglas
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
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2. Early Life
• Born October 16, 1898
• Attended Columbia Law School
• Taught Law at Yale University
• Third Chairman of the Security
and Exchange Commission
(SEC)
• Died January 19, 1980
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3. Supreme Court
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4. Associate Justice
• 79th Person to Serve on the Court
• Nominated by Franklin Roosevelt
• Replaced Louis Brandies
• Served From April 19th, 1939 – November 12th, 1975
• His term of 36 years and 209 days is the longest of any Justice on the
Supreme Court
• Was succeeded by John Paul Stevens
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5. Judicial Philosophy
• Was considered a liberal on the
court.
• Believed in “incorporation”, that the
Bill of Rights applied to the states
through the liberty clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
• Had a “literalist” view of the First
Amendment; there should be no
laws restricting free speech.
• Adherent to “legal realism”. A belief
that interpreting law should include
moral and political realities of the
time.
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6. Landmark Cases
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7. Terminiello v. Chicago (1949)
• Arthur Terminiello, a Catholic Priest, violated a “breach of peace”
ordinance in Chicago
• Douglas wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision overturning
Terminiello’s conviction.
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8. Yates v. United States (1957)
• Involved the prosecution of 14 low level Communist Party members under the
Smith Act
• The Smith Act (Alien Registration Act of 1940) was passed to punish individuals who
would overthrow the government.
• Douglas concurred with Hugo Black in the 6-1 decision overturning the 14
party members convictions
• The ruling changed the way the Smith Act was enforced
• Before the ruling members of any party that at one time advocated overthrowing the
government could be imprisoned.
• After the ruling violating the Smith Act required encouraging or inciting an overthrow
of the government.
• Along with the case Watkins V United States, Yates effectively ended the
second red scare.
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9. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• First case in which the Warren Court applied the Bill of Rights in a
criminal case to the individual states through the Fourteenth
Amendment.
• Dollree Mapp was arrested after police officers used a fake warrant to
search her house and found obscene material and arrester her.
• The court decision overturned her conviction by applying the Fourth
Amendment to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment
• The ruling also prohibited the use of evidence in state courts that was
obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
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10. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
• Case concerning a Connecticut law banning contraception
• The ruling contained multiple opinions overturning the Connecticut
law.
• Douglas’ majority opinion was one of his most controversial. In his
opinion Douglas stated that while there was no explicit right to privacy
in the Constitution the first nine amendments implied a right to
privacy from the government.
• This case was later cited in the Roe v. Wade opinions.
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11. Other Information
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12. Impeachment Attempts
• Two attempts to impeach William Douglass
• The first involved the Rosenberg case in 1953
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for trading state secrets to the
Soviet Union.
• Douglas granted a stay of execution because the Rosenbergs were sentenced
without a trial
• The outrage during the second Red Scare lead to a resolution of impeachment by
Represenative William Wheeler of Georgia
• The second impeachment attempt happened in 1970 and involved
Douglas’ financial ties to a private foundation.
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13. Other Notable Cases
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – School Segregation.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) – Right to counsel applied to states.
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) – Libel/First Amendment
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – Notification of rights during criminal
proceedings.
• Furman v. Georgia (1972) – Capital punishment
• Roe v. Wade (1973) – Abortion laws.
• United States v. Nixon (1974) – Executive Privilege
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14. The End
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