Points of Rebellion

by William O. Douglas

Points of rebellion

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Political Science

97 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS was born in Maine, Minnesota, on October 16, 1898, and raised in Yakima, Washington. He entered Whitman College in 1916, but his studies were interrupted by military service in World War I. Douglas was graduated from Whitman in 1920 and taught school for two years before attending law school at Columbia University. Upon graduation in 1925, he joined a New York law firm, but left two years later to spend one year in Yakima. He subsequently returned to teach law at Columbia University, and transferred to the faculty of Yale University in 1929. In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Douglas to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in 1937 he became Chairman. President Roosevelt nominated Douglas to the Supreme Court of the United States on April 15, 1939. The Senate confirmed the appointment on April 17, 1939. Douglas had the longest tenure of any Justice, serving on the Supreme Court for thirty-six years, spanning the careers of five Chief Justices. He retired on November 12, 1975, and died on January 19, 1980, at the age of eighty-one.

More information is available from the Federal Judicial Center at http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/nGetInfo?j... or from The Supreme Court Historical Society at http://www.supremecourthistory.org/hi...

Reviews

[Max P]

I would like to say one thing. Although some may say that this masterpiece is outdated, due to the fact that it was published in '69 I say that it adds all the more meaning. Justice Douglas gives examples of how (then modern) laws have violated the constitution, such as an arrest to anyone teaching the ideas of communism. This is a direct violation of the first amendment, freedom of speech. Then, it gets interesting. He talks about how people try to stop this corruption in our government, but get arrested in rallies for "disturbing the peace." Again, first amendment here, but also, the first part of the fourteenth also protects you, stating "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;" meaning that this type of arrest it totally illegal! And the worst part is that 47 years later, his third part (which is on how to make things right) has not happened. Sure, we don't prosecute people for being commies, but that has evolved into a new monster. The Patriot Act. That, and the other laws that unnaturally sacrifice freedoms in the war against terror are the new head of this beast. And protests have just gotten worse. This book, is a wary warning of why we need rebellion, and how we need it. It may not be long and bloody to remove corruption. Someone who is smart and honest could do it. But one way or another, a leader will rise up sometime or another. A great overall book, for people interested in expanding their spectrum on revolution in social studies, strongly recommended.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

They don’t make Supreme Court Justices like they used to

[Vane Lashua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to make a public comment at a DOE Shale Gas Subcommittee hearing in DC and pulled this book off my shelf of historical, mindful commentary to read on the train. I fooled around with my Facebook and email on the way. I made my comments to the hearing and on the way back, pulled out Points of Rebellion and began to read. I had forgotten!

At the hearing were representatives of the BLM, Dept. of the Interior, Indian Affairs, EPA. The chairman, of course, was a likeable professor from MIT, former head of the CIA, knowledgeable and a good moderator. After a few pages, I just about jumped up and began asking my fellow passengers to WAKE UP! READ THIS BOOK! Sadly, I didn't. Changing the dates and the names of the actors cited by Douglas that parallel those of today would be a waste of time!

In Douglas's day, it was about leasing public lands to cattlemen and oil companies. It was about building a wasteful, but essential war economy, eroding civil liberties through illegal FBI data gathering and record-keeping, putting people out of work through technology, anticipation of the rust belt, and the inevitable boom-bust cycle of burning up resources, running out and searching for more -- or alternatives. The testimony by government lackeys in the pay of already rich oil companies and cattlemen in 1969 was very comforting. After all, the world was starving and a good sirloin steak right off the grill was just the ticket to eradicate poverty.

Today, of course, it's paralleled by ANWR, offshore and public lands out west, Patriot Acts, 9/11 anxiety building to support a $600billion war budget, putting people out of work with robots, ignorance about the rust belt and the inevitable boom-bust cycle of burning up resources, the search for more -- or alternatives. AND, we are assured by the comforting testimony of corporate financed government lackeys, the 25,000 gas wells already punched in ND and the open offshore sites are safe and unlimited.

Meanwhile, Douglas's optimism in the young people, their awareness and fearless pursuit of the truth promised a more just, caring and sustainable world. (That happened!) And the young people in the Occupy movements today will be our tireless advocates and agents of change, just like I and my generation were. (That'll happen!)

"We must realize that today's Establishment is the new George III. Whether it will continue to adhere to his tactics, we do not know. If it does, the redress, honored in tradition, is also revolution." -- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, William O. Douglas, 1969

[Tay Gibs · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

I am so happy I tracked this book down. If you would like a nice hundred page book with the detailed opinions from our most progressive Supreme Court Justice regarding the establishment, the 1st and 14th amendment, climate change, the military industrial complex, and the idea of a welfare state, this is the book for you. In three nicely divided out parts, you truly get to see how Justice Douglas fought for the rights of every man, woman, and child in America.

[Tobias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hasn't necessarily aged well - a lot of his argument is unique to the historical moment - but includes a robust defense of First Amendment rights and the urgency of challenging ruling elites.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Points of Rebellion is a fast-flowing polemic on the grievances of the American underclass on the dusk of the 1960s, with special weight set upon the prevailing inequities of the legal system, the Military-Industrial Complex, & environmental custody. Whatever the factoidal errors, of which there are a handful (see: the pacifism of King George III), & the anachronistic data which pervade the book, Justice Douglas renders an unprecedented authority to the long American tradition of social agitation from below- reform by rebellion. Of the thousand indignities facing the underdogs of his day (often the black community, and rural poor), very few of those he enumerates have gone unperturbed in the time since. The draft, the loitering laws, the red-scare censorship, and the conservative campus are but a few antiquities firmly relegated to a bygone era. Their obsolescence, among so many others soon to follow, are, if anything, no permit to complacency, but a testament to the public will in answering his call. And every victory, no matter the scope of cause, or the length of battle, only further extol the untold rebellions in our midst. In so many words, what Douglas asserts is a civics lessons far too long forgotten: To be an American, is to rebel.

[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short work by arguably the Supreme Courts most anti Establishment, anti Corporate and anti Bureaucratic Justice.

[Torosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some science mentioned is horribly out of date, but it was a look back that made me realize the U.S has the same issues it always has had. Radicalized me more.

[Isabel]

Trump would hate this book.

[Jack Knorps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justice William O. Douglas is an underappreciated figure in American history. For better or worse, this is his most famous contribution to the world of American letters (apart from a number of his Opinions over the years). It is short, and while it is certainly of its time, it is not dated. By the standards of his day, Justice Douglas was a radical liberal (though no Justice is without their "partisan inconsistencies"--that nuance which separates the true thinkers from the party liners), and he would be a radical liberal today (mostly). The fact that we had such a person on the Supreme Court is totally amazing. Even though a lot of people think he was kind of crazy, he was far from the craziest, and he was the good kind of crazy, genius-crazy. In this instance, it was a good appointment.

POINTS OF REBELLION was published in 1969, nearing the final part of Douglas's reign in what is still the longest tenure of any Justice. At this point, he clearly gave zero fucks. It is difficult to imagine a Supreme Court justice putting out such a book during their tenure. Douglas's replacement, Justice Stevens, waited until he retired in his 90's to publish a flurry of books revealing his true feelings. In any case, this is a point-by-point program to transform America, and it would be totally amazing if people read this and actually tried to make it happen, because it still hasn't--maybe small bits and pieces, but nothing close to what he envisions.

"In April, 1968, only 3.5 per cent of the general population was unemployed, while for those in the slum areas it was 7 per cent, with 5.7 per cent for whites and 8.7 per cent for Negroes.
The national white unemployment rate has been about 3.1 per cent and the national Negro unemployment rate 6.7 per cent.
Police practices are anti-Negro.
Employment practices are anti-Negro.
Housing allocation is anti-Negro.
Education is anti-Negro.
The federal government, with its hundreds of federally-financed public road contracts, and its thousands of procurement contracts negotiated each year by the Pentagon and other agencies to purchase munitions, towels, stationery, pens, automobiles and the like, is admonished by Congress to make sure that the contractors for these goods make jobs available without discrimination. President Johnson gave hardly more than lip service to that mandate."
-Douglas

Things are not quite as bad now, right? At least that is what The Establishment wants us to think...

http://flyinghouses.blogspot.com/2013...

[Chuck D · Rating 4 out of 5]

written by a justice of the supreme court, it was nic to see his veiw point. The author William O. Douglas argues protest against poverety, segregation, inequitable laws, and inadequite education. It is interesting to see his veiw point.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

non fiction