The Most Leftist Justice Ever on SCOTUS

Reposted after doing more research:

In light of recent events concerning the Supreme Court and the need for court reform (of which I will not discuss here), I'd like to hearken back to a time when SCOTUS justices had integrity and cared for their fellow citizens.

Often overshadowed by Supreme Court giants such as William J. Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice William O. Douglas was known by his contemporaries as the strongest defender of civil liberties on the Court and many of his opinions protecting fundamental rights continue to influence us today. A controversial man in his private life, Congress attempted to impeach him twice; Nixon's FBI even tried to plant weed on him.

A few facts:

• He was appointed by FDR in 1939 at the age of 40 and served until 1975, becoming the longest-serving Supreme Court justice ever. He was handpicked by Justice Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court justice.
• First SCOTUS justice to appoint a woman, Lucille Lomen, as a law clerk (1944).
• Wary of big business, saying that “Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men.” United States v. Columbia Steel Co. (1948) (Dissenting opinion).
• Defended Communist party members accused of violating the Smith Act, on account that the government was unjustly persecuting them for their political views and not their political actions. Dennis v. United States (1951) (Dissenting opinion).
• Against electronic surveillance by law enforcement officers, believing it to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Lee v. United States (1952) (Dissenting opinion).
• Granted a stay of execution in 1953 to Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, U.S. citizens accused of spying for the Soviet Union.
• Organized a publicized hike in 1954 to save the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from turning into a federal highway.
• Argued that a Connecticut statute prohibiting married women access to contraceptives was unconstitutional, that it denied vulnerable citizens of society access to medical assistance and information about the safety measures of birth control. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). This case basically created the right to privacy as a fundamental right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Lone dissent in saying that stop and frisk searches by the police were unconstitutional. "To give the police greater power than a magistrate is to take a long step down the totalitarian path. Perhaps such a step is desirable to cope with modern forms of lawlessness. But if it is taken, it should be the deliberate choice of the people through a constitutional amendment." Terry v. Ohio (1968).
• Issued an order to block a shipment of weapons to Vietnam in 1968, before his eight fellow justices on the bench overruled him. The same happened to an order to stop the bombing of Cambodia in 1973.
• Like Kyle, he was a free speech absolutist, believing that free speech, even inflammatory speech, was a fundamental right that the government cannot prohibit or censor unless the speech "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action." Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969).
• He was an ardent environmentalist, even going as far as saying that "trees have standing," meaning that they should have the right to sue in court without establishing incurred harm first. Sierra Club v. Morton (1972) (Dissenting Opinion).
• Successfully put a federal moratorium on capital punishment for 4 years in the per curiam opinion of Furman v. Georgia (1972), saying that the death penalty was a form of cruel and unusual punishment that was disproportionately applied to poorer communities and communities of color.
• Voted in the majority for Roe v. Wade because abortion is part of a right to privacy and bodily autonomy not to be interrupted by the state, need I say more?

Of course, Douglas was by no means perfect, with one of his early blunders on the bench voting to uphold Japanese American internment during WWII in Korematsu v. United States (1944). This case haunted him for the rest of his career as he tried to make amends for this mistake. He was also accused of not taking his duties on the court seriously, opting to travel back to his home state of Washington instead of showing up for work.

That being said, William "Wild Bill" Douglas still had an unparalleled streak on the Supreme Court that attempted to put citizens' rights first before needless state intervention. May future justices seek to do the same.