Volume 28, Number 2 · February 19, 1981
Dissent on Douglas
By Ronald Dworkin
Independent Journey: The Life of William O.Douglas
by James F. Simon
Harper and Row, 503 pp., $16.95
The Court Years, 1939 to 1975: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas
by William O. Douglas
Random House, 434 pp., $16.95
Mr.Justice William O. Douglas served in the United States Supreme Court for the extraordinary term of thirty-six years—from 1939 until 1975—and he was probably more often on the right side than anyone else has been. His record in civil rights cases of all different sorts was particularly admirable. He wrote a great many important opinions and, unlike many other Justices, did almost all the writing himself. He also did much more writing off the bench than any other Justice—thirty books and dozens of speeches and articles, many about social and political justice. His enemies were the right enemies for a crusading liberal to have: he was hated by President Nixon, pursued, to the point of threatened impeachment, by Congressman Ford, and condemned on the bumper stickers of Birchers everywhere. And yet when we look back on his long and interesting career on the Court, aided by his own memoirs of those years, and by Professor Simon's excellent, judicious, and admiring biography, we find not great distinction, but two puzzles. How could he have been so unlikable a man? Why did he make so little impact on constitutional law?
Review, 5594 words
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