William O. Douglas

E22853

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States author human lawyer legal scholar

William O. Douglas was a long-serving U.S. Supreme Court Justice known for his strong civil libertarian views and expansive interpretation of individual rights under the Constitution.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
William O. Douglas canonical	80
Justice William O. Douglas	20
William Orville Douglas	2
William Douglas	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T60912 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: William O. Douglas
Context triple: [Roe v. Wade, hasConcurringJustice, William O. Douglas]

A. Byron R. White
Byron R. White was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice known for his generally moderate-to-conservative jurisprudence and influential opinions across criminal procedure, civil rights, and federalism.
B. Paul G. Kirk
Paul G. Kirk is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as interim U.S. Senator from Massachusetts following the death of Edward M. Kennedy.
C. Martin D. Ginsburg
Martin D. Ginsburg was a prominent American tax lawyer and law professor, noted both for his influential scholarship in tax law and his supportive partnership with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
D. Blackmun
Blackmun refers to the nominative reports of U.S. Supreme Court decisions compiled by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, whose name is used as a citation reference in the United States Reports.
E. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was a long-serving U.S. Supreme Court Justice and influential legal thinker known for his contributions to American common law and free speech jurisprudence.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: William O. Douglas
Target entity description: William O. Douglas was a long-serving U.S. Supreme Court Justice known for his strong civil libertarian views and expansive interpretation of individual rights under the Constitution.

A. Byron R. White
Byron R. White was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice known for his generally moderate-to-conservative jurisprudence and influential opinions across criminal procedure, civil rights, and federalism.
B. Paul G. Kirk
Paul G. Kirk is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as interim U.S. Senator from Massachusetts following the death of Edward M. Kennedy.
C. Martin D. Ginsburg
Martin D. Ginsburg was a prominent American tax lawyer and law professor, noted both for his influential scholarship in tax law and his supportive partnership with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
D. Blackmun
Blackmun refers to the nominative reports of U.S. Supreme Court decisions compiled by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, whose name is used as a citation reference in the United States Reports.
E. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was a long-serving U.S. Supreme Court Justice and influential legal thinker known for his contributions to American common law and free speech jurisprudence.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ author ⓘ human ⓘ lawyer ⓘ legal scholar ⓘ
appointedBy	President Franklin D. Roosevelt ⓘ surface form: Franklin D. Roosevelt
areaOfLaw	civil liberties ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ environmental law ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship	United States of America ⓘ
dateOfBirth	1898-10-16 ⓘ
dateOfDeath	1980-01-19 ⓘ
education	Columbia Law School ⓘ Whitman College ⓘ
employer	Securities and Exchange Commission ⓘ Yale Law School ⓘ
endTime	1939 ⓘ 1975-11-12 ⓘ
familyName	Douglas ⓘ
fullName	William O. Douglas self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: William Orville Douglas
givenName	William ⓘ
knownFor	frequent dissenting opinions ⓘ strong defense of First Amendment freedoms ⓘ support for environmental protection and wilderness preservation ⓘ
memberOf	Democratic Party ⓘ surface form: Democratic Party (United States)
militaryService	United States Army ⓘ
notableFor	expansive interpretation of individual rights under the U.S. Constitution ⓘ longest-serving Justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court ⓘ strong civil libertarian views ⓘ
notableWork	Go East, Young Man ⓘ Of Men and Mountains ⓘ majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut ⓘ opinions expanding the right to privacy ⓘ
placeOfBirth	Maine ⓘ surface form: Maine, Minnesota, United States
placeOfBurial	Arlington National Cemetery ⓘ
placeOfDeath	Washington, D.C. ⓘ surface form: Washington, D.C., United States
politicalAlignment	liberal ⓘ
positionHeld	Associate Justices of the Supreme Court ⓘ surface form: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ⓘ
religion	Presbyterianism ⓘ
residence	Washington, D.C. ⓘ surface form: Washington, D.C., United States Yakima ⓘ surface form: Yakima, Washington, United States
spouse	Cathy Douglas ⓘ Joan Martin ⓘ Mercedes Hester Davidson ⓘ Mildred Riddle ⓘ
startTime	1937 ⓘ 1939-04-17 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (103)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Civil Service Commission v. National Association of Letter Carriers → joinedByInMajority → William O. Douglas ⓘ

Rochin v. California → concurrenceBy → William O. Douglas ⓘ

383 U.S. 663 → majorityOpinionBy → William O. Douglas ⓘ

All labels observed (4)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (48)

How these facts were elicited Show

Referenced by (103)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited