William O. Douglas

William Orville Douglas was born on October 16, 1898, and died on January 19, 1980, and served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975, the longest tenure of any justice in the Courts history at thirty six years and two hundred nine days. Nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to succeed Justice Louis Brandeis, he was confirmed at age forty, one of the youngest justices ever appointed, after having chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission. Known for strong progressive and civil libertarian views often described as the most liberal in the Courts history, he wrote the majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a constitutional right to privacy that later decisions such as Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges built upon, joined the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education ruling outlawing school segregation, and was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War and advocate for environmentalism.