Remembrances of William O. Douglas on the 50th Anniversary of his Appointment to the Supreme Court

Abstract

Remembrances of William O. Douglas on the 50th Anniversary of his Appointment to the Supreme Court William J. Brennan, Jr., Richard W. Benka, Richard H. Chambers, Ramsey Clark Milton V. Freeman, Thomas J. Klitgaard, Simon H. Rifkind, Gerhard A. Gesell Erwin N. Griswold, Milton Handler, Leonard F. Jansen, William A. Reppy Marshall L. Small, Jay Kelly Wright, Eric Sevareid Editor’s Note: Thefollowingreminiscences were solicited by Cathy Douglas Stone for a booklet which was distributed at a reception at the Su­ preme Court on May 9, 1989 to honor the 50th anniversary ofthe appointment ofJustice Douglas to the Court. WILLIAM J. BRENNAN, JR. Retired Associate Justice Brennan sat on the Bench with Justice Douglasfrom 1956 to 1975. I was very fond ofBill. I first met him on October 16,1956 when I as a recess appointee took my seat on the Court. October 16 also happened to be Bill’s birthday. He was having abirthdaypartyat his house and invited mywife and me. There was a large number of guests and Billwas amost delightful and gracious host. When we were leaving he suggested that we ought to get together on October 16 in future years and celebrate our anniversaries together. We did that except when one or both ofus was out of town on that date. That did not happen very often and our October 16 date held until theyear before he suffered his disabling stroke. On occasions, we invited a third couple (Abe and Carol Fortas, for example). We dined either at his house or ours or, on occasions, at a good restaurant. Without exception, theywere delightful, amusing occasions which we simply refused to spoil by talking shop. I only wish I had kept a diary ofthe things we did talk about. Bill was a natural storyteller and his details of his latest fishing or mountain climbing adven­ tures in far away places were fascinating and often gripping. Bill also had a long-time repu­ tation as an incorrigible practical joker, but would not indulge in horseplay on those occa­ sions. In the early weeks after I took my seat, Bill’s close friend, Fred Rodell, wrote a piece for the Progressive deriding my appointment. Billwas much disturbed by this and wrote Fred a strongly phrased letter in my defense. That provoked from Fred an apology, but never any commitmentnottorepeat hisappraisalifevents justified. Bill’s relationship with his colleagues was generally very warm, but he took consider­ able delight in teasing Justice Frankfurter who, he thought, treated his colleagues as if they were his students and subservient to him. Jim Simon quoted Bill as saying, JusticeBlacksattoJusticeFrankfurter’s left and I sat across the table from him. I told FelixthatHugo was the nutcrackerandhe, Felix, was the nut. AfterHugo gotfinished with him I justpicked up thepieces. Felixneverthought this was veryfinny. Again, once afterIreadastoryin thepaperthatFelixandIweren’tspeakingIcame into conference and offered to shake his hand. Felix just stood there. I said, “you’ll have to DOUGLAS REMEMBRANCES 105 Justice Douglas liked to try to predict how his colleagues would vote at the close of oral argument, and, if he sensed he was in the minority, he would dictate his dissent immediately for later use. hurry, Felix, lam a busy man.”He didn’t think that wasfunny either. Our conferences, at which we discuss andvote on cases after argument, are limited to the nine of us. On many occasions Justice Frankfurter would speak to a case not from his seat but while walking around the conference table. The bookshelves containing the reports of the Supreme Court decisions were along the walls. Justice Frankfurter would reach into the shelves, take down a volume of decisions and read, sometimes at length, excerpts from opin­ ions that he argued supported his position. When this took more time than Bill thought justified, he, on occasions, would rise from his seat, approach the ChiefJustice and say, “When Felix finishes, Chief, I’ll be back,” and leave the conference. Justice Frankfurter would be furi­ ous but nevertheless would continue until he had fully expressed his view. Bill was a very fast worker. I have sat with 22 Justices during my time on the Court and Bill turned out his opinions in vastly...