A Tribute to Mr. Justice Douglas

Abstract

On November 12, 1975, Mr. Justice Douglas resigned as an active Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Thus ended not only the longest but, in the minds of many, the most lustrous period of service on the Court. Racked with pain in an arm and leg resulting from a stroke suffered almost a year before, he had characteristically hung on in the hope that his remarkable will and recuperative powers would win out as they have so many times before. But the demands of the Court's business could not wait for nature's healing powers, and realist that he is, he stepped aside.