Love this statue of William Douglas

[Bucky]

Yall whippersnappers here may not know much about Bill Douglas . But this statue of him (found it on the General JC Christian weblog) is the perfect metaphor for the man. He was an unyielding champion of the freedom of expression and the right of all people to engage in a free debate. He walked against the face of powerful, turbulent winds of conformity, fear, and paranoia in the middle of the 20th century. He raised a stink where no one else would. When he read the Bill of Rights to say "Congress shall make no law respecting" freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly he took it at face value and voted for the rights of some pretty unpopular people. He stayed the execution of the Rosenbergs when he had questions about that case (true, Julius was the worst of traitors, but there's still serious questions as to whether the government wrongly executed his wife).

He found the "right of privacy" in the "penumbras" of the Bill of Rights. This one still puts our big brother conservative friends in a tizzy, but if prohibitions against self incrimination (5th Amendment) and unlawful search and seizure (4th Amendment) don't spell out the right of privacy, certainly the catch-all 9th Amendment allows judges to decide it exists. Bill Douglas is one of the first jurists with the balls to say, yes, that right is there, too.

He didn't just fight from the bench. Douglas was an adamant environmentalist before it was acceptable for leaders of the Washington establishment to say so. He wrote and spoke out in public on civil rights and the need for the country to pursue desegregation. He probably lost the critical 1944 nomination of the Democratic Party for Vice President (to eventual president Harry Truman) because of his hard antisegregation stands. He never quit fighting, even when he was outgunned, even when it cost him.

You sleep sounder as a citizen of a free country because of William O Douglas. You post on DU with a little more confidence because of Bill Douglas. You can take to the streets and tell your public servants they're doing a crappy job and order them to stop their bloody wars with a little more backbone because of him, too.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Where's this statue?

"If I get a hard-on, it's pornography, if I don't, it's not."

William O. "Bill" Douglas

[Bucky]

2. Wish I know. But I'll bet it's not Raleigh

[Somawas]

3. Since Douglas had no connections to Raleigh,

I assure you it's not. But I appeared in what I believe to be the last case he sat on in person. And I'm from Raleigh. And I've always admired Justice Douglas.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Very cool, Somawas. nt