Cong Gerald Ford tried to impeach Justice Douglas

phillysuse

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Thu Dec-28-06 09:46 PM
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Cong Gerald Ford tried to impeach Justice Douglas

For those of you caught up in the mourning for dear President Gerald Ford and too young to remember,
it was Ford, as a right wing Republican Congressman, who tried again and again to impreach Justice William O. Douglas.

Conservative Republicans hated Douglas. Douglas was appointed by Roosevelt in 1939. He served for 36 years, longer than any other Supreme Court Justice in American history and faced impeachment three times which is also a record. During the 1950, he faced impeachment twice. First, he suggested that the US should form closer ties with China putting a wedge between its Communist government and that of the USSR. That is exactly what Richard Nixon did. But Douglas was accused of being a Communist! In 1953, Justice Douglas stayed the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and was again accused of being a communist and an obstructionist judge. In the 1960's he criticized Nixon's efforts to limit the Bill of Rights and dissented on cases involving government surveillance of civil rights and anti-war activists. He was in the majority for the Pentagon Papers decision.
He antagonized the self righteous Republicans when he ruled that the US Customs Office could not confiscate the so called pornographic film "I Am Curious Yellow". But what really forced Gerald Ford to move for impeachment was Douglas's personal life. Douglas divorced his first wife in the early 1950's becoming the first divorced member of the Supreme Court. His second wife was 18 years younger and left her husband for Douglas. In the 1960's, he divorced and married two more women, both of whom were more than 40 years younger than he. He married for the last time to his 4th wife in 1966 and she was 22 years old at the time. That was too much for Gerald Ford and the Republicans. They were green with envy.

The mounting calls for his impeachment forced Minority Leader Gerald Ford to call for his impeachment in 1970. His "liberal opinions" were cited as well as "his defense of the filthy film, "I Am Curious Yellow." He was acused of being an associate of and acceptimg money from a business man, who was said to be connected to organized crime. He was criticized for being paid $350.00 for writing an article on folk music for a magazine, Avant Garde, because the magazine's publisher had served a prison sentence for the distribution of another magazine said to be pornographic. Ford stated "The article itself is not pornographic, although it praises the lusty, lurid and risque along with the social protest of left-wing folk singers." The final charge was connected with the magazine "Evergreen." An except from Douglas's 1970 book, "Points of Rebellion" was included in an issue. Ford acused Douglas of violating the "good behavior" requirement for justices by allowing his book to be excerpted in what was viewed as a "pornographic hippie" magazine. Republican memebers of the impeachment committee were criticized for not sharing the issue with the Democrats. This prompted Ohio Democratic Congressman Wayne Hays to ask, "Has anybody read the article - or is everybody over there who has a magazine just looking at the pictures?" The article in question by Douglas turned out to be a discussion of the U.S. Forestry Service and the interstate highway system. This brought the impeachment proceedings to a close and Douglas was not found guilty of anything.

So I for one will not mourn Gerald Ford. I will remember that he was against the Bill of Rights, that he did not understand the Constitution long before he pardoned the criminal Richard Nixon.
I only regret that he took up space on this earth for as long as he did. Better he should have left us years ago.