Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1974
Abstract
The American people are always interested in record-breakers, whether it be in the field of sports, politics, economics or any other phase of American life. In sports, it might be a Babe Ruth or a Hank Aaron; in politics, a Lincoln or a Roosevelt; in economics, a Rockefeller or a Ford.
And so it is in the judiciary, whether it be a Marshall, Hughes, Holmes or Brandeis. Most of their records in some respects are related to longevity, but the thrust of our admiration stems not from that fact but from some great contribution to the affairs of their day.
Now we have a new name to add to that galaxy of noted Americans, Justice William 0. Douglas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. On October 29, 1973, he broke the record of Stephen J. Field by serving 34 years and 196 days on that Court while still as vigorous in writing for a majority or in dissent as at the time of his induction on April 17, 1939.
Disciplines
Law
Recommended Citation
Michael I. Sovern,
Mr. Justice Douglas,
74
Colum. L. Rev.
342
(1974).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2112